The Final Games
by Darkducki
Summary: Claudia Snow  President Snow's Granddaughter  finds herself thrown into the final Hunger Games along with other children of the Capitol's elite. Slight change to Mockingjay ending to allow the plot to even happen. Lot of OC's, rated T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins does.**

**Just a bit of an introduction to give my main character some me-time.**

**I'll try and update at least once a week, maybe more :D**

**Review for love :D**

I knew. Of course I knew. Grandpa Snow was far too charming, too slippery to be a nice guy. I guess everyone knew how malicious he was, they were scared of speaking out. I've grown up in a bubble, pampered, servants attending to me night and day. Only in fear of my name I suppose. Because I was Grandpa's little darling.

It was almost two years ago now I watched on the screens a flaming Katniss Everdeen parade around on her chariot. With one hand waving to the people and blowing kisses, the other tightly in Peeta Mellark's grip she smiled and cheered. Her fake smiles made me laugh and shout at the time, but looking back on it they seem more like grimaces. My friends and I almost feinted when we heard Peeta declare his love for her, as giggling 14 year olds we followed their relationship intently with morbid fascination as we all agreed it was cute, but would end tragically.

Mama said we shouldn't concern ourselves with the hunger games she said they were "just trivial amusements to please the _hoi polloi _and remind them of their place". She told me I should only think of sweet and lovely things like dressing up and hair styles.

I can remember Grandpa coming over for dinner one evening, a week or so after Katniss and Peeta had been declared joint winners of the 74th hunger games. He snapped at Mama, whom he usually adored, and wouldn't even talk to my father, his own son, except to give a bland complement on the weather. I don't like Grandpa when he's angry; he's always very silent, like an angered street cat, frozen with its back to a wall, ready to pounce at any second.

A year later I watched the screening of the quarter quell on TV, I thought it was really unfair to let Mags, the frail old lady, compete, but Mama said she hadn't many years left in her anyway. We oohed and ahed as Finnick Odair appeared, his head held high. Mother had been talking about him for years, saying how when he won a few years ago, the women of the capitol collectively sobbed when they realised he was only fourteen at the time. I can see why Mama liked him, his floppy copper hair and flirtatious smile made us both giggle.

The Seventy Fifth Hunger Games were quite enjoyable, but they'd been over hyped and there was a noticeable tension right from the interviews. It was almost painful to watch people who had been friends forced to tear each other apart.

Then the transmissions ended. I knew something was wrong; it was tangible in the way my parents acted. My seldom seen father had to go away on "important business" more and more often. Mama said she was struggling to get particular items from the shops, but assured me that we_ had to get them_. That's what Mama loved about being married to the president's son, the allusion of power over everyone, the feeling that she was loved and respected by them. No one knew her anymore as the slimy socialite who would say anything to anyone if it gave her status.

"Mama, Esmeralda says she can't get any new dresses at the moment, why not?" I asked her one evening as she came into my room to say good night.

"Because the nasty little people in District 8 don't want to make the cloth anymore. It will be fine though darling, Daddy's doing his job and the bad workers will.." She hesitated. "Change their minds". This is how she usually spoke to me, like a five year old, as if I couldn't handle the real world.

"Mother. I'm not a little kid, I'm nearly 16. You can tell me the truth. I've heard people talking about a District rebellion in the shops today."

"That's not true, of course not darling. Like I said, it's only a minor problem; it'll be sorted out in a few days. Don't you go listening to the rubbish the riff raff in the shops are saying."

Satisfied she'd answered my question, she kissed my head and left my room. I wanted to go on, I wanted to ask more, but frankly, I don't think she knew anymore. Why would the government want to entrust secrets to a loose tongued social climber?

In the following weeks, people really started to notice things happening outside of the Capitol. There were all sorts of rumours flying around; district 6 had been obliterated, 3 had developed its own stash of nuclear weapons, everything was fine, mutations had run rampage over 9, our water supply was being poisoned, you get the picture. No one seemed to believe any of this, and still behaved as normal, but people had started to adopt a hushed voice they only used when they were talking of the possibility of an ongoing rebellion.

Of course I heard none of this myself, Mama was allowing me out of the house on my own less and less, but I did still get to see my friends, and they assured me this was true.

Soon after I'd finished my home schooling for the day, they would all run up to me going "Oh Claudia, you will not believe what I have just heard..." This was standard practice; I got gossip from my friends because I was by now a reluctant hermit. Mama said it was for my own good that I wasn't seen in public, and that I did believe. Even before the trouble started, I still had to use a hood to cover my face and my sapphire blue hair (a classic that will never go out of fashion). There were people around who didn't like Snow, and the only way they could take much revenge against him was by hurting his family, so I didn't get to attend many public events.

The night of the first rebel broadcast was the last night I ever saw my father. He was back from controlling the Capitol's army for just over a day, and we were gathered on the sofa as a family, an event that hadn't happened for months. We were watching the news together on the wall sized television screen, the ageless broadcaster telling us not to fear, as the "minor problem" in the districts was all but over. Daddy was looking anxiously at the screen;

"It's all lies" He muttered. I asked him what he meant but Mama interrupted me.

"I think it's about time you were going to bed sweety, you mustn't make Daddy stay up, he has to go away again tomorrow." She said curtly. I reluctantly agreed and wished Daddy goodbye. I knew I probably wouldn't be up to see him the next morning, he tended to leave at dawn.

As I left the room, action shots of Katniss Everdeen began to come onto the screen. Mama tried to change the channel, but the rebel broadcast stayed. It even made the television stay on; eventually she had to unplug it at the wall. Her expression of anger was almost feral, she seemed to hate the rebels even more than Daddy, and he was the one fighting them.

If I had known I wasn't going to see him again, I would have stayed and told him what I truly thought of him. It may seem cruel but I would have told him how he was never there to see me grow up, how he was always in district two bossing peacekeepers around and at secret meetings with Grandpa Snow. I would have asked him why he married such a despicable, two faced woman. But I didn't, I just said goodnight.

Weeks later I found out that General Julius Snow was buried alive as he retreated from rebels in district two. They never even found his body.

I never had much time to grieve for my father, things moved too quickly towards the end of the war. Mama had just received a phone call from Grandpa to tell her that her husband had been dead for the past fortnight. She was distraught, when I heard her crying I knew something was wrong. She was a strong woman most of the time, and wouldn't cry this easily. But now her tough facade had shattered like a dropped wine glass.

She was just about to put the phone down, comfortable that no more bombshells were to be dropped, when Grandpa added the killer detail, the rebels were now assaulting the Capitol. We had to move from our expensive townhouse. As a proud woman, this is what practically broke her. She collapsed by the phone and when I found her she was being fanned by a maid.

We were at 'Auntie' Cassandra's house the night the rebels reached the Capitol. Cassandra was Mama's childhood friend who had contracted a terrible illness following her disagreeing with Grandpa at a family dinner party two years ago. Generously, she had left Mama her large apartment which was only a street away from our house, and therefore only two streets away from Grandpa's palace. We normally came here when we wanted to be out of the public eye, and it made an ideal safe-house for hiding from the rebels.

Within a few days it was all over, but we'd followed everything on the news, right down to the bombing of the children. I knew a lot of those faces, it was a terrible day. Mama burst into tears as it was announced on TV.

"That's those rebel's darling, sick dogs they are. Killing our children! How could they?"

It didn't feel the right time to mention the barbaric entertainment which our city initiated on the children of the Districts, but I couldn't help noticing the irony.

"So what do we do now?" I asked, fearing a bang on the door any minute, announcing a rebel victory and the assurance of our death by firing squad.

"Keep the lights down, and the television off. If anyone comes, we'll get in the wardrobe and keep quiet. They'll never find us there, they're un-civilised, and I doubt they even have built in wardrobes in their slums." She replied curtly, ever the posh snob. At this point I was a whimpering wreck, there's nothing like watching your friends being blown up to put a girl in high spirits.

"But, Mama, what if they find us, what will we do then?" I sobbed, knowing my questions were both useless and annoying.

She pulled the biggest knife I've ever seen out of one of her red stiletto boots.


	2. Chapter 2

**Remember, I don't own the Hunger Games! Suzanne Collins does. I don't really know what to say about this chapter. Other than there will be more... Oh yes, and reviews would be luurvly :3**

"Don't think I'd let them take us sweetie. I'm not as dainty as I may seem. I think it's time to settle down now and get some rest, it's been a terrible day today"

Just past dawn the next morning I heard the crunch of broken glass on the street outside, and the thud of combat boots connecting with doors. They were here.

"Wake up sweetie, time to hit the cupboard" Mama hissed as she man-handled me towards the back of the apartment. There was a loud shout close by the front door.

"They must be here, get this door down!" I know I didn't mean to and it was a stupid mistake but I screamed. Loud and high pitched. Mama slapped me; she's never slapped me before. The sensation was odd and I felt kind of woozy. She pushed me to the back of the cupboard, into a stash of furry leggings, and closed the door as silently as possible.

"Stupid idiot girl" She snapped and I began to cry again. We heard footsteps outside; Mama muffled my blubbering with her hand. The footsteps stopped, everything was silent. All I could here was my ragged breathing and my Mama's quickening heartbeat against my head. Her anger seemed to have dispersed.

"It's going to be fine dear, they'll never notice us in here" She whispered in my ear as she held me in her arms. For a moment I thought she would be right, the soldiers had gone, we were safe. Then I noticed the belt that had fallen from a shelf and wedged itself under the door of the wardrobe.

"Oh shi.." My mother muttered, cut off as a bearded man triumphantly pulled the door open. We tumbled out together onto the thick carpet. The first soldier moved towards grabbing me as the rest ran back through the front door and into the bedroom.

"Don't you dare, scum!" Mama cried "You are not going to take my daughter, not now, not ever!" With this she pulled out her knife, three sturdy looking guns pointed at her.

"No, we want them alive" Shouted beardy. "Dido and Claudia Snow, you are under arrest for consorting with..." Mama's cries drowned him out as she lunged for him with the knife. He hit her around the head with the side of his gun, but that didn't stop her one woman mission.

"You may have the guns, but you are not taking her from me!" She exclaimed as she then turned her knife towards me, I looked at her wild eyes, the eyes of a mad woman. I still don't understand how she could go from caring to psycho so easily, but she did. Strong arms pulled me from her reach as another soldier knocked her to the ground. She staggered to her feet, knife still raised proudly.

"Mama!" I yelled as gloved hands muffled me. I bit down, hard but the large body restraining me no more than flinched.

"Farewell my child, they are never taking my freedom. Down with the rebellion, it's all lies child, all lies!" She screamed as I foresaw what she was about to do. As she raised her knife I looked away, eyes wet with tears. The squelch as she thrust the blade into her chest featured in many future nightmares, and there was nothing I could do to drown out her dying screams. The soldiers had made no effort to stop her, one less trouble for them I suppose. They only wanted me, not Snow's deluded daughter-in-law.

I cried into my captor's chest as he carried me away. I turn back to look, just once to say my good-byes. We had already passed out of the bedroom and through the door at this point, so my last memory of my mother was her bloodied white stole draped across the floor, her lifeless eyes staring upwards, as if out of the window.

I must have passed out then, or they drugged me. The next thing I remember was being dragged from a small dark cell towards a room with a TV set. I tried to bite the strong arms restraining me but another guard slapped me.

"Come see Gramps die you dirty little brat!" A harsh voice called down to me, his accent unfamiliar. I looked down at my clothes, or the lack of them, I was just in my underwear, my creamy skin now puckered with deep purple bruises. That scared me. I tried to remember staying here, or losing my clothes, but it was a drug induced haze. They could have done anything to me.

We reached the TV room at the end of the long corridor, I was then hand cuffed to a chair. I realised what was happening on the screen. My vision was still a little blurry, but I made out a balcony, a crowd, a middle aged woman with long straight hair, a girl with a bow ("the mockingjay" as they now called her) and my Grandfather, strapped to a post.

Katniss raised the bow, the crowd roared, Grandpa chuckled as he coughed up blood. I wanted to look away, but the guards behind me held my head so I was looking right at the screen. I closed my eyes for a brief second, and when I opened them saw the older woman tumble from the balcony, an arrow in her chest.

Both the crowd on the screen and the guards behind me gasped. The woman must have been the rebel leader. The child in me half expected Grandpa to now make a daring escape, but he was overwhelmed but the stampede of the crowd. The television broadcast cut off as Katniss was dragged away by a guard.

I smiled, this is why the people of the Capitol are superior, we have control and discipline. We don't let slightly crazy teenagers with weapons run amok.

I kicked at the guard in vain as he stabbed a needle into my arm, and everything disappeared into a warm fuzzy sensation. When I woke up again I was wearing a raggedy dress, hurrah, result. There was also some kind of thin soup in a bowl in front of me. My body had only just realised how hungry it was and my stomach let out an embarrassing growl, but frankly I couldn't care less. I felt thin and weak and there was some kind of food there for me, it would have to do.

I was halfway through wolfing down the bland soup when it occurred to me that it could be poisoned. I figured it was too late for me if it was, so I may as well keep eating. Moving on from that thought, why would they want to keep me alive in here anyway if they were just going to poison me now? And why would they want me alive anyway, when the rest of my family were dead?

I regretted asking that question to myself as soon as the answer appeared on the television at the end of the corridor. They didn't let me though to see it, but they had turned up the news bulletin nice and loud, so I could hear my doom perfectly clearly.

An enthusiastic reporter who I didn't recognised declared that President Blaske, recently elected I presumed, was about to make an important announcement.

"Greetings, citizens of Panem. As your new President, my aim is for eventual peace, and for our previous slave drivers to be punished for what they have done. After a vote some weeks ago be previous victors and other people of note I am _delighted _to announce that there will, in a matter of weeks, be one final Hunger Games."

There was a collective shout of dismay from the audience, Blaske coughed loudly and continued.

"In this final, 76th Hunger Games, the roles will finally be reversed. 23 of the surviving Capitol children will be selected to compete.." I had a really really bad feeling what he was about to say next.

"And of course Claudia Snow's participation will be guaranteed. _May the odds be ever in your favour." _He finished, dripping in sarcasm.

One of the guards from my cell walked over to me chuckling and promptly spat on me.

"It's what she deserves." He said, his cronies chuckling.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: SORRY it's taken so long, been v busy with... life. Buuuut, I promise the next chapter shall be long and...sparkly :) I don't own the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins does :) Reviews give me a warm and fuzzy feeling :) :)

The next day passed in a blur. Or rather, when I say blur, I mean countless hours of staring at some cracks in the wall of my cell, counting them meticulously while listening to the guards' mindless talking. From what I heard, there were varying opinions about the new President within the former rebels, whilst some loved him; others already were talking of another rebellion. However, by most the onset of a final Hunger Games was received well, the guards were certainly enthusiastic.

As night fell outside (well, from what I could see from my tiny barred skylight) the television was switched on once more. They were going to announce the contestants for the final games. 12 boys, 11 girls and me. I had no idea whether any of my friends survived the rebel bombing, some certainly didn't. They could be the ones who I would be forced to murder. Or the ones who kill me.

I waited apprehensively as the drum rolled to call out the first name. Uma Tinsly. I didn't recognise the name, for all I knew she could have been a tiny 12 year old, or older than me and twice as dangerous. The announcer read out a few more names, many I was vaguely familiar with but few to whom I could match a face. That was a small mercy at least, but the whole concept still utterly freaked me out. I had to keep reminding myself it was real.

"Isonia Leandra" The unfamiliar voice boomed. That made it real. Isonia, or Izzy as everyone called her, was my best friend; I'd known her since I could walk.

After the initial shock came relief, at least she wasn't killed in the bombing. Then the truth kicked in and I half wished she had been. The Games were going to be hard enough, I didn't have much chance of winning, but now the girl I had grown up with, who was practically my sister was in the fray, it made things a whole lot worse. I imagined this is what it must have felt like for the children from the districts over the last 75 years, the unlucky ones whose friend or sibling was picked as well as them.

I thought for a minute we could try to undermine the system, break out like they did in the last games. But that was ridiculous; the security was going to be the tightest it had ever been. At least I didn't have a long term boyfriend like some of my mates had.

The only guy I ever loved was the one who used to live in the house opposite me. His window was opposite mine and every evening I would wave at him to get his attention. We had silent conversations across the street which were more like longing stares. I suppose this sounds quite stalkerish, but it wasn't like that. The boy in the window knew we couldn't be together (Mama was very selective of my acquaintances, and she never had any of our neighbours in high regard). I didn't even get to know his name, he probably died when the rebels came. If he were in this Games (and if he was alive the odds were frighteningly high) I didn't know what I would do. Break down in tears and give up? No. That's what the rebels want. They want to break me, to make me seem as "weak" as my Grandfather really was. Not likely.

As the names were called out, I longed to be in the television room and see the faces, see who I would be up against. But that didn't really matter, I would be seeing them soon enough anyway.

I was dragged awake early next morning by a guard, the one I'd now come to know as beardy. When the soldiers had me suitably subdued, a petite woman who looked about 20, with a striking bob cut popped out of no-where. _Ah, she looks vaguely civilised, she's come to get me out of my cell, it's all been a big mistake._ I thought hopefully.

"Good morning Claudia, I hope you are feeling simply marvellous"

My slight groan indicated that I was most definitely not feeling simply marvellous.

"No matter, we can soon get that sorted" She beamed, everything about her made me think of a small animal on stimulants.

"I'm Amber Royal and I'm going to be your escort and make sure everything works out totally fine darling" She didn't quite have a Capitol accent, but she seemed to be proudly embracing our culture. Her sprawling array of intricate tattoos around her eyes probably cost her quite a bit of money and attracted strange looks from the people of district one or two, where I presumed she was from.

"Erm, sure. Hello then, its, err, good to meet you.. I'm Claudia."

"Yes, I know that dear." She was bordering on patronising now. "We're going to get a lovely breakfast now and then we shall meet your partner."

"What?" I spluttered. "I have a partner? Why? How? Who?"

"Oh, in the interest of aesthetics darling. The twenty four of you are being paired off in order to give you a theme for your costumes, to give a sense of balance, and also because it may cause...love interests."

I think at this point I actually gaped like some sort of fish.

"So you're expecting me to get together with this stranger, just so it ends tragically for the cameras. What's the point? No one is ever going to sponsor me anyway."

She seemed to ignore my reluctance.

"Oh don't worry dear, with the right marketing, anything is possible. At any rate, no one is going to want to watch a pretty girl like you starve to death. I'm sure you'll polish up a treat and no one will remember a thing about your nasty Granddad." I snorted, _yeah right they're going to forget. _

"Now come along dear, we have breakfast to attend." She continued as she dragged me out of the main doors of the prison and into the luxury car with its blacked out windows.

The journey was hideously awkward. I sat in silence, no responding as Amber babbled on about how I had every chance of winning both people's love, and the Games themselves. Under her optimistic facade, I could tell she was deeply disappointed having to escort me, the most notably hated contestant. My "partner" was probably equally shameful, a young serial killer or something who also mugged grannys in his spare time.

We arrived at a large building in a very nice area, I didn't know the Capitol that well, I never strayed much further than my street and the palace, but I could tell we were heart wrenchingly close to my old house. _I'm never going back there. _I realised with a shock. The expression on my face was clear, Amber noticed as we got out of the car.

"What's wrong darling? Are you excited? Of course you're excited. There's nothing you should worry about!" I wish I shared her optimism.

As we entered the building, Amber led me through to a massive room with a long table, presumably used as a dining room.

"Claudia Snow" Amber announced "Meet Halcyon Sunburst" She said with a flourish, indicating the boy with a mop of dark hair sitting with his back to us, pawing at a bread roll. As Amber spoke he turned around. For the second time that day I was left agape. This was him, the boy in the window across the street. The boy I had been secretly in love with for years.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: As promised, horribly long (yes, my chapters are getting longer) sorry!**

**Sorry its been so long :( Been busy, exams coming up and all that :(**

**Next chapter will be sooner, promise :) :)**

**Reviews pleeeeease :D**

Amber looked at the mirrored expressions of surprise in our eyes. She had noticed. Of course she had noticed.

"Do you know Halcyon, Claudia?"

"I.." I stumbled.

"Yes. She's knows me." Halcyon finished slickly. I'd never heard his voice before, it was charming.

"She was my girlfriend. I suppose she still is." He butted in before I could make up some spiel about us being family friends. That was..surprising. I didn't think he thought of me the same way, or at least as strongly. I decided the best idea from there would be to play along, it would be mega awkward otherwise.

Amber however looked as though she would explode with joy at any second.

"This is so totally brilliant my darlings! You couldn't have planned this better! You are both absolutely going to get sponsors now! Go on, dig into some breakfast Claudia, you have a long day ahead of you!"

I ignored her slight cynicism about our sudden "relationship" but realised she was right, another sweet love story would make viewers bound to sponsor at least Halcyon, with his brooding good looks that I'm sure all the women of Panem would fall for.

I did indeed dig into the breakfast, it was the only decent food I'd had since I'd fled our house with Mama weeks ago. While we ate, Amber talked us through the plan for today. We were having a costume fitting session straight after breakfast, then some "recreational time" and then after lunch we were being kitted up in our costumes for the opening ceremony.

"I thought the opening ceremony is usually at night though, why are we getting ready after lunch?" I asked, bemused, as I picked apart a pastry.

"Because, my sweet" At this point I realised how strongly her speaking style was to my mothers, there was something very fake, very forced about the apparent sweetness. "It will take at least 6 hours to get you into your costume and have your hair sorted."

Halcyon almost choked on his hot chocolate, _some boys..._, I however gave a squeak of delight, the first time I had genuinely been happy since my parents died (well, aside from meeting Halcyon, but that felt almost too good to be true). Various costumes worn by tributes over the last few years flashed through my mind, some hideous, some striking, some genuinely awe-inspiring. But we were Capitol children, we don't have some sort of product or district symbol. I suspected the theme would be subtle. I though perhaps they were just going to dress us in rags and mock us.

Soon after breakfast I found out. Amber lead us up to a large ballroom that had been converted into some sort of costume prep area.

A short, tubby man with a striking purple colour to his skin, hair and as I later noticed, teeth, popped up from a sewing machine. He was clearly from the Capitol, no doubts there, I was glad that I wasn't being styled by barbarians.

"Heloooooo there ladies and gent. I'm Mr. Oswyn and I am going to make you tip-top-perfect for the cameras!"

Halcyon didn't speak, possibly fearing humiliation.

" Hello Mr. Oswyn, I'm Claudia Snow. I presume you're going to give me some lovely dress, right? I looove pretty dresses" I beamed, knowing with these sort of people it's usually best to play along with their enthusiasm.

"Just call me Ozzy, flower. And of course, all of Panem knows who you are. But fear not, after tonight they will know you for much more positive things!" He took my arm, steering me towards a clothes rail. To his relief, Halcyon was being ignored by our stylist. "For starters, from now onwards you shall be Claudia Diamond, and trust me, the viewers are not going to forget this."

I wasn't too happy about the prospect of changing my name, but it was one of my biggest disadvantages. I somehow doubted that simply changing my name would change Panem's opinion of me though, so Ozzy had his work cut out.

From the clothes rail he pulled out a full length body-stocking. I crossed my fingers, hoping this wasn't the entire outfit.

"Now" He said. "I was going to get you to wear this underneath." To my relief he tossed the body stocking aside. "But I realised you would look much lovelier without it. Now, come here and stand still, I need to measure up this framework."

"Framework?" I exclaimed, partly in fear and partly in excitement.

"Yes of course my dear, to keep your dress up." He then made me strip off to my undies, in front of Halcyon and everyone, and put on a belt with sets of hoops coming off it. _Ah_, I thought to myself, _that sort of framework_. After tinkering with the size of the hoops meticulously he finally got it right. I looked behind me, the biggest hoop about level with my knees. The wire was light for the moment, but I was sure he would soon dress it in fabric.

I got my normal clothes back on again while I waited for Ozzy and his team to finish my dress so I could check the fit before lunch. I sat with Halcyon, and although we were metres away from the tailors, it was the first time we had even been remotely alone together that day, Amber had seemed to have wondered off somewhere.

"What a trick of fate" He began "that we would end up here; together. It's more of a gift you know. Especially for you. Without me, dearest Claudia, you would have absolutely no chance."

There was something about his tone of voice I didn't like. Although it was sultry and overly charming, there was a malicious streak to it, it made me think that maybe it would have been better never properly meeting Halcyon, the boy who'd been in my dreams for two years now.

"Yes, it's great your here. I've always wanted to meet you properly." I decided to play along, starting to believe my own lies.

"I've had many girls before. Some very pretty as well, but you, you are special to me. You are my favourite and always have been."

"But we've only just met, technically."

"Time doesn't matter to me, only you do. We're going to win this, together."

He smiled and my heart almost melted. I could sit, basking under that smile for hours. He looked up, he had seen Amber coming over to fetch me for my fitting. As I stood up he grabbed my arm and kissed me for a long, drawn out moment. It was beautiful, he was beautiful. I just wanted to pause that moment forever.

Amber's perky voice pulled me back into reality.

"Claudia, there's a big surprise waiting for you to try on, I'm afraid I'm going to have to split you two lovebirds up for a minute." She was clearly pleased to see our relationship in the flesh; it was her biggest marketing tool.

I headed back towards the clothing area, now on a buzz from my moment with Halcyon. First I was fitted into my wire girdle again, only this time the dress above it was pulled over me too. I didn't see it as it was wrestled over my head by one of Ozzy's assistants, but I could feel how heavy it was.

I found the cause of the extra weight as I turned to look in the mirror. The dress itself was blue velvet, the same colour as my hair, but that didn't matter as you couldn't see much of it. The rest of the dress was covered in diamonds. There must have been thousands of them, and they all looked real to me. I couldn't comprehend how much this must have cost (anyway, I never bought anything myself, Mama would buy things for me), I didn't even realise there were this many diamonds in existence. It was then I understood the reason for my name change, people would think _hm, I like that girl, the one with all the diamonds, oh, Claudia Diamond, that's her name_. It was a great plan, just as Katniss had become synonymous with fire, I was the glittering queen of diamonds.

Ozzy and his minions had noticed my smiles. They returned them, pleased that their work had paid off.

I tried taking a step in the dress, it was very difficult and Ozzy had to take my arm.

"Of course" he smiled "Your partner will help you with the steps to the stage. Now, to lunch with you, this afternoon we're going to be busy busy busy!"

Lunch was fab, the first sea-food I'd had for a long time. I couldn't help noticing though that, although the foods didn't lack in the effort that had presumably gone into them, the portions were smaller and some ingredients were obviously synthesised. It was clear that the districts had not yet all gone back to work as normal. I laughed as I thought this; clearly the districts would never be the same again, with this nasty sounding phrase, "democracy" ringing in peoples' ears.

After lunch we were indeed led back up to the room where our prep team lurked, Halcyon got dressed into his simple black tuxedo that oozed elegance, whilst I was pulled into my insanely heavy diamond dress. I thought that that was it, I would just have my hair and makeup done and I would be ready for the cameras this evening. But Ozzy had other plans.

"Now daaarling, the next stage is to apply the diamonds, you are going to sparkle like a star!"

I looked at him frantically; surely there was enough diamonds on my slim frame already? Where did he intend to add the other ones? Where had he even obtained so many diamonds from?

"I don't understand, I thought you meant my dress?"

"Of course not, dear Claudia, diamonds _are _a girl's best friend after all. Now, I'm told this little process tends to hurt a wee bit, so Miss Mollie over hear is going to give you a nice little drug that will keep you asleep whilst we work on you."

Miss Mollie was at least two metres tall and almost as wide, she towered over me and grinned, waving a needle. This was almost as bad as the brief time I spent in prison, but at least there was no chance of being raped.

The needle went into my arm and immediately made my limbs feel heavy and warm, and then I collapsed neatly on a couch, watching Oswyn's almost manic excitement.

It must have been a few hours later when I woke up, looking out of a window I could see the sun was not far off the horizon. Something felt wrong, but it took me a while to work out what it was. I looked around, Ozzy and his team were all there, but thankfully Miss Mollie had disappeared. Halcyon was sitting at the other end of the room having something sparkly combed into his hair.

The prep team were smiling at me eagerly, waiting for me to notice something.

"What, what are you lo...?" I began, but as I said it I looked down at my arms. Diamonds. More of them. Spread at irregular intervals all over my arms, and, when I looked in the mirror Ozzy offered me, my neck, shoulders and parts of my face. The facial were probably the most striking, emphasising my cheek bones and skirting around my brow. I even had one somehow stuck to one of my teeth.

"What? How did you... How..?" I was stunned, how did he get so many gems, how did they stick onto me?

"Ah, the wonders of science" Ozzy said "I never shall understand it, but all I know is its beautiful."

"I..I...Wow. It's so... I love it." I was lost for words. Oddly, all I could think about was how jealous my friends would be. Then, with a shock, I realised that quite a few of them would be dead and not see me. Or they were competing with me.

"Glad you like it. Now, we only have a couple of hours left and I need to get that hair looking equally lovely, just a touch of makeup and then we're good to go."

"But, where did you get all of these diamonds from?" I asked, curious to know.

"That doesn't matter, what does are these split ends." He said, as one of his team began to trim my hair. I was slightly annoyed, primarily because he hadn't answered my question, and also because I had had my hair cut not much more than two weeks ago, and I was sure I didn't get split ends that quickly.

"Please tell me, I just want to knowwww" I insisted.

"If you must know, these were in your grandfather's vaults and your mother's collection." He almost snapped. His tone didn't shock me, what did was his reply. The jewels my family owned had been stolen. Ok, they were all dead, but still, these should be mine. _They are now though, they're all over me_ I reminded myself.

Suddenly, Ozzy's eerie purple smile returned and we resumed amiably chatting about fashion, shoes and the weather. A full two hours later it seemed the prep team were done. I thought I looked gorgeous, and that people were bound to sponsor me. Ozzy's makeup seemed to focus on drawing attention to my eyes (which were, with the help of coloured lenses, no longer a dull green but a glistening sapphire to match my hair), it did this very well. My hair was styled into soft curls, but not full of glitter like Halcyon's, Ozzy probably thought it would draw attention from my glittering body. Not that that was likely, I was sparkling like a firework.

As I stumbled to my feet I joined Halcyon who was working his tux like a model. Dapper just didn't quite cover it, he smiled at me, I thought I would collapse again (which was highly likely as simply staying upright was tricky in this dress).

"I see you took all of my sparkles, shame." He chuckled, I counted no more than 20 diamonds on him, I was totally going to be the centre of attention that evening.

"Yes, sorry about that. Now, don't we have some little event to attend to?" I smiled weakly, hoping my sarcasm didn't sound cheesy.

"Oh, you're coming too, what a lovely surprise" he replied, dripping in sarcasm, as he took my arm.

Amber suddenly appeared from behind an end table, seemingly out of nowhere. I was beginning to think she was some kind of pixie. She led us into a lift (I cannot begin to describe how relieved I was that we didn't take the steps), and we went down to some kind of basement that led out onto a different street from the one we had arrived from.

A smell I didn't really recognise filled the air, some sort of animal smell. I looked around and saw teams of horses everywhere, being linked up to elaborately decorated chariots. Immediately I saw our vehicle. It was satin black, with blue and silver trim. Sets of lights were rigged, but no switched on, on the inside of the chariot; I wondered what they could be for. Amber and a small contingent from my prep team led us to it, which I then realised was at the front, nearest to the large doors. We were on first it seemed.

I tried not to look at the faces of the other tributes, that word felt so strange to describe Capitol people, milling around. I didn't want to become particularly friendly with any of them, from watching past Games on TV, the ones who think they have friends end up dead first.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind as we studied our chariot. With some help from Halcyon, I shuffled around to face whoever it was.

"Ohmygawd! Claudia! Babe, I missed youuuuu!" Isonia Leandra, Izzy, yelled "How aare you?"

Despite being my best friend, I didn't quite recognise her at first, much of her face was obscured by a mask of white feathers and sequins, I wasn't the only one doing sparkles here.

I smiled. "I'm, er, great. We're going to die horribly, but who cares, because for now we look awesome!" I really meant the last bit, I was so excited for the opening ceremony. Everyone looked great, but I certainly stood out from the crowd. Even in this dank stable area I was attracting stares of wonderment.

"Ha, that was a bit awkward, elephant in the room and all that"

"Elephant in the room? You are so full of random sayings. What the hell is an elephant anyway?"

"How am I supposed to know, I'm the beauty, not the brains."

"Fat chance of that!" I laughed, and suddenly we were giggling away and gossiping like old times, but I knew it was not to last. A very thin man with a pinched face sidled up to Izzy and pulled her away to her partner, who from what I could see from under his feathery costume was tall and muscular (this was odd, not many guys in the Capitol were so well toned, it was seen as a bit of a common thing to be, perhaps his father had him weight training or something). One by one the rest of the room hopped up into their chariots, ready to go.

Amber hopped up to us.

"Now remember, big smiles, lots of waves and work your crowd. You'll be absolutely lovely!" I wished that I shared her confidence. She said something aside to Halcyon, I tried to overhear but the roar of the crowd had begun outside and it was impossible to glean a thing.

The doors in front of us slid open. Halcyon held my palm tight. It was about to begin. Our pair of glistening black horses started to pull forward, brilliantly trained. As we came out into the cool night air I shivered slightly, and the movement of the chariot didn't help my balance either. I gripped the front of it with my right hand, then pulled it away, realising I'd need it to wave to the thousands who had turned out to cheer at as (and in some cases jeer). Amber had told us that hundreds of people from the districts had been taken in on trains to come and watch the opening ceremony (and to make up for the size of the small home crowd).

The multitudes before us were the biggest crowd I had ever seen (just remember I didn't get out much before all this), and I did exactly as Amber said, I smiled and waved and blew kisses to the crowd. Seemingly most of them had either forgotten my family links or somehow not realised who I was, I owned this crowd. As we wound through streets of people, I couldn't help feeling how exhilarating this all was, I always thought the open ceremonies were great fun to watch, but the experience itself was something else.

As we rounded the corner to the platform where the new president awaited us, Halcyon kissed me, full on the lips. For a few long seconds it felt as if the crowd had gone and we were together, alone on a perfect summers day. But then he pulled away and smiled at me as the crowd went wild; Halcyon Sunburst, ever the showman.

_So this is what love feels like. I like it. _I pondered, then realised it was probably a good idea to get back to the task in hand. Most of the chariots were lined up in front of the president's platform by now; I squinted up at the high stage, just making out his battle hardened features. I couldn't help myself, sticking my tongue out at him. That's exactly what I thought of him and his whole stupid rebel organisation.

Unfamiliar music played, it must have been the new anthem of...well, not just the Capitol but for the whole of Panem. I didn't like it. I wished it were the old one. I wished I were sitting at home with Mama and Daddy, watching this whole affair play out on television. But that was not going to happen, and there was no point in me dwelling in the past.

Along with the other tributes, I reluctantly saluted as the rather too excited presenter handed over to the president to officially open the Final Hunger Games. He then made some dull speech about how the lessons learnt from the past will help shape a glorious future for all of Panem, and much more bullshit like that. I stood like a statue through the whole thing, not out of choice mind but simply because my costume would not allow much movement, and certainly not slouching.

After the opening, we headed back from the city centre, but this time to a different building. This was the fabled training centre.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sooooorry it's been ages! Had oodles of exams and other nastys. On the plus side, it is now Christmas so I have more time for writing. Next chapter will be soon (within a week hopefully). Please review, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside :D :D **

Mr. Oswyn was waiting for my when I finally reached my suite at the centre. He and his team helped me get my dress off, patted me on the back and scurried off, having assured me that the diamonds would all come off if I applied a gel he had given me.

Rather unconvinced, I hopped into the shower and lathered on the gel, which felt more like a soap. I was amazed as the gems started peeling off, I did a little mad panic as I realised that if I was not careful a fortunes worth of diamonds would quite literally go down the drain. After I collected them, I pulled a towel around myself and headed out of the bathroom.

There was a soft tap on the door; I knew instantly who it was. I almost sighed as I opened the door, not realising it was a scared little man bringing me a tray of sandwiches.

"I thought you were Halcyon.." I mumbled as I took my food from him. To my surprise, he replied (I had presumed he was an Avox, perhaps the new government had got rid of them).

"Your escort is with him presently, madam. Would you like me to send for him?"

"Erm, yes please" I replied softly, still shocked to be talking to a servant.

The sandwiches I ate whilst patiently waiting for Halcyon were disgusting, made out of some re-constituted meat that should be banned. I couldn't spot a bin as I heard Halcyon coming down the corridor, so I quickly hid the sandwiches in the pot of a large, rubbery house plant.

"You called.." Halcyon smiled as he came pushed the door open (which I thought I had locked).

Self-consciously, I quickly checked my reflection in the glass of the dark TV screen and re-adjusted my hair slightly. Only then did I realise I had forgotten to remove some of the diamonds around my face. I panicked, starting to rub at them.

"Leave them, you look beautiful with them. You always do." Halcyon said as he perched on the edge of my bed next to me.

"Perhaps. Yeah, they would look nice, you reckon they're permanent then?" I reasoned, very aware of Halcyon shuffling closer to me.

"Probably, but they'd be a great affectation for the Games." His mention of our fate in the next coming weeks shook me. He noticed the worried look on my face.

"It's ok Claudia, we're going to win this, remember. Just you and me." He said softly as he pulled me into his arms and we kissed again for I don't know how long. Suddenly there was a hard rap on the door.

"Halcyon! Are you in there?" Amber yelled. He got up to open the door and only then did I realise my white towel had completely fallen off; Amber's interruption seemed to have made me miss an opportunity.

Amber Royal didn't look at all surprised as she came in to see my cover myself hastily with the bath towel.

"I hate to interrupt you two" she began curtly "but you really should get some sleep" She glanced at Halcyon "in your own rooms". Amber was really starting to act like my mother right now; her sugar coating had somehow peeled off to reveal her controlling nature. Perhaps she thought he was trying to be a rebel and take me and run away from this place.

She ushered a reluctant Halcyon off to his room and wished me good night.

The next morning some preset alarm blasted sound into my ears and I woke up shouting like someone who should be hospitalised. Rather creepily, someone had come in and tidied my room as I slept. A note had been left on the small dressing table:

_Breakfast is at 7.30. Follow the signs to the dining hall; you need to meet the other competitors. Do not be late._

_Amber x_

Then I made an effort to find and check a clock. It was 7.15 so I hurriedly changed into some rather dull looking clothes that had been set out for me on a chair. Training clothes.

It turned out there were no signs directing me towards the dining room and I was reduced to asking a servant for directions. When I reached the elaborately decorated room everyone was already there, eating away. Halcyon hadn't thought to save me a space on the table, so I had to sit on the end, next to the hulk of an almost man who was Izzy's partner.

I tried to make conversation, asking him what he thought of the ceremony last night.

"It was fine" He replied gruffly, and returned his interest to his muesli.

"So, what's your name?"

"Cyprian." His lack of interest in me led me to cut the conversation short. What I really needed to do was get everyone here to love me. That way they would be less likely to stab me in the back before, quite literally, I got them first. Something inside me smiled at this thought. Crazy evil must run in the family it seems.

After breakfast, training began. I spent a long five minutes deciding whether I needed to improve either my fighting or survival skills first, both were equally rubbish. I saw Halcyon heading over to the archery station as we entered the large hall and thought it best to follow him. Archery (and a silly little berry trick) had won the games for Katniss, I thought it was at least worth a try.

The archery trainer was lithe and wiry; his face looked a bit like a fur stole my mother had owned. He did however seem friendly which was always a good start. After less than five minutes with a bow I realised archery defiantly wasn't my talent, the trainer even told me himself that I was not strong enough for it, however my aim was alright.

Halcyon on the other hand wasn't that bad for someone totally new to a bow, he hit the targets quite a few times. I left him at it when I realised it wasn't for me and headed over to the more survival based stations.

First I learnt how to tie knots, which I found quite easy in all honesty, yet I doubted that knowing how to do a good reef knot would help keep me alive. I then tried my hand at camouflage, but I soon realised that I'd be far happier running away from danger than pretending (unconvincingly) to be a pile of leaves.

Most of the other tributes seemed more concerned with learning fighting skills, but by now I had already decided that I had almost no chance of winning, and that my strategy would be "run away and hide" orientated. The only station I visited that morning where there was anyone else was where I learnt what to eat in the wilds. A tiny girl with mentally curly blood red hair was poking disdainfully at the foods the trainer was showing us how to prepare.

"I don't like this. It looks rubbish" She squeaked, perhaps hoping I would show her some sympathy.

"That's what you will have to eat or you will starve." The trainer with his finely maintained moustache said, " now, if you look over here ladies, this is how you gut your rabbit"

The girl squealed again.

"I take it you're going to stick to eating the nuts and berries then?" I asked her as she turned her head away, not wanting to look at the disembowelled creature.

"Yes. But I hope there's nice food at the cornucopia. But not apples. I hate apples." This fussy kid was clearly just going to starve. "What's your name? I looove your hair!" She giggled enthusiastically. I found it hard to believe she was over twelve.

"I'm Claudia Diamond" I almost choked out my new surname. It felt so wrong to betray my family like this.

"I'm Katriarna. Call me Katie." She smiled. Katie didn't seem to recognise me, which was good. Or perhaps she simply wasn't into current affairs.

"Are you girls actually listening to me, or are you having your own private chat? Because I ain't doing this for fun you know, go and starve for all I care."

That blew it. Ok, so I have a short temper, and especially when people disrespect me or argue with me, that makes me angry. I felt it was best to stomp off in a strop to hand-to-hand combat.

Taking my anger out on a dummy helped a lot, especially when the overly muscled female trainer said I fought like a wildcat. I hoped that was a compliment.

Later that day I spent brief minutes learning about starting fires and sword fighting. I wasn't that bad at the latter ( although again my lack of body strength let me down), the trainer even suggested that I should demonstrate it for the Gamemakers the next day. His comments however seemed a bit forced, like he was just trying to give me some hope. I was bound to get a 0.

I didn't speak to Halcyon again that day, he spent all of his time with the big guy, Cyprian, a tall brunette girl, a guy with white blonde hair and a few others. Seemingly he had found cooler people to hang out with and had decided to ignore his "girlfriend". It still felt wrong using that word. We weren't really an item, I was just using him to get sponsors, but part of me did really want to love him, and he was so charming, so why not?

Izzy however had only just found out about me and Halcyon, and demanded to be filled in when we were sitting down for lunch.

"So, spill the goss. Now."

"Ok, ok, ok. It's no biggy. We're going out. That's all you need to know."

"And do you love him?" Her question threw me a bit, I paused for a second to phrase my reply.

"I certainly like him a lot. I think I'm starting to..."

"What?"

"I think I'm starting to love him."

"Aww, that's so sweet." She hugged me.

"Anything between you and Cyprian?" I asked, trying anything (for the first time ever) to drag the subject away from me.

"No! He's cute, yeah, but I think he.. _bats for the other team_. Anyway, speaking of Cyprian" She got up and steered him and his group to our end of the table, "We need to let you in on the plan" She said in a hushed whisper, although it was a little pointless as our gathering was rather obvious.

By the time she had finished explaining who everyone else was and how they're were all 110% loyal my soup was practically cold. The softly spoken Cyprian introduced us to Anya (the tall brunette), Lucius Verus ("Call me Luke" – the smiley guy with very pale blond hair), Raphael (a very small boy, couldn't be more than 13 – I feared he may be in our group to be used as some sort of human shield), Katie (who I'd met before and was equally small – again I was worried why she was with us) and a chubby boy named Fernando. It was a fairly mixed group, the first three introduced seemed to me aggressive, scary and Hunger Games winning material, but the last three, especially the fat kid seemed to be the type who usually got killed first (I counted Izzy and myself in the middle of that scale).

As we left the dining hall for afternoon training, Halcyon sidled up to our group.

"You forgot to introduce me guys! I was the one who had the idea of teaming up!"

"You did" Izzy reasoned "but I figured Claudia already knows who you are..."

"But still. It was my idea, and I am therefore leader"

"Sure, sure...for now" She clearly had got to know Halcyon well already, releasing his pride was something best left and not debated.

We trained for the rest of the afternoon until we all finally staggered back to our rooms in the early evening. I wasn't any more confident in my abilities than I was before, but at least I now knew how to choose the correct mushrooms and eat them_. Perhaps I could just sit in a corner and eat some mushrooms in front of the Gamemakers _I thought to myself, chuckling.

As we didn't have a mentor or any help from anyone who knew the Games very well, Amber advised us to spend some time watching past recordings of past Hunger Games. After the night before she wasn't letting us spend any time together alone, perhaps she thought that if I lost my virginity on camera in the Games I would get hundreds of sponsors, and since everything she thought about was sponsor related, she could make us wait. She sat with me and Halcyon (unfortunately) throughout the countless re-runs of previous rounds, Halcyon fixed intently on all the bloodthirsty Careers, hoping to win like them. I was watching in vain, trying to find a single Hunger Games where someone as weak and generally pathetic as me had won. There were painfully few occasions, and they only seemed to be out of luck more than anything else.

Then an idea hit me. I had my game plan. I would double-bluff. Many times victors had been the people who pretend to be weak, but then turned out to be skilled fighters, such as Joanna Mason. It had been done so many times that sometimes even the Careers feared and respected the weaklings, seeing right through their disguise. _So, _I thought _if I "pretend" to be slow and useless, the other tributes will give me some space and hope someone else kills me. Brilliant. _

Sleeping that night was hard, various scenarios of the Hunger Games played out in my dreams. Some I won, some not. In one dream, I laughed as I shot Halcyon dead with an arrow to the chest. I woke up screaming after that one. I would never do that; ever. It felt so wrong, that would be worse than my death itself.

Breakfast and morning training the next day passed in a flash, and it felt like we'd only just got started as the bell went for lunch. I had just reached the knife throwing area as everyone had started to leave. Since I already had a set of knives in my hand I decided I might as well have a go, and the instructed waved me on.

I was angry. Angry that the rebels had killed my whole family. Angry that the new president had forced me and the few people left in the world I loved into this stupid Hunger Games. Angry at Amber for keeping me from Halcyon. Angry at the Gamemakers who that very afternoon would give me a score I could show on one hand. As I threw the knives, rage was filling my head, beating in my heart.

The three knives went directly into the head, neck and chest of the target dummy. I had a talent! I couldn't quite believe it, it must have been fluke. I quickly spun around; checking for witnesses, but the other tributes seemed to have all headed out of the door already. I smiled, deciding at that moment that this was a secret best kept hidden; my life could depend on it.

As I headed towards the door, a voice surprised me.

"Impressive, you'd better show the Gamemakers that." I jumped slightly, I swore none of the other tributes had been there before.

The boy with the platinum blond hair smiled as I turned to him, he held his hand out to me.

"Don't sweat it, I'm not going to tell them."

"Thanks...Luke?" I hesitated, not able to remember his name.

"Yeah, Lucius Verus really. It's a bit of a mouthful, Luke's cool with me. "

"Yes, you're in our little...agreement" I said, in my best stage whisper.

"Indeed" he chuckled as we parted to take our seats at lunch, no one had noticed us.

"Good luck" We mouthed silently to each other as we sat down at different ends of the table.

_Great, now I've trusted my success to a complete stranger. _This thought lingered with me as we were called up one by one after lunch to impress the Gamemakers. Just my luck, I was summoned thirteenth.

"Mine went fine" Izzy assured me as I left the table "Just be yourself-show off!"

I entered the room and looked up at them, behind their glass screen on their own little balcony. Many of them actually glared at me, highly promising. After they announced my name to me, seemingly pointlessly, I began prancing around with a sword, looking menacingly at the row of dummies.

They didn't seem to be particularly impressed, so I decided to add in some ballet to spite them. I pirouetted like a mental person, hoping they'd interpret this as some kind of skill, my dancing had certainly impressed my family when I was around seven years old.

I realised I was running out of time quite quickly, and decided these weren't the best people to be sarcastic in my actions to. I picked up the throwing knives, this time imagining the target dummy to be President Blaske. I threw with the same anger, and the blades hit just where the indents from my previous attempt had gone. The Gamemakers looked shocked, my task was complete.

It felt like centuries until that evening when the scores were announced. I was sat in my room with a mug of hot chocolate, snuggled under a duvet when the broadcast came on.

The scores seemed to be on the low end of the scores of most Hunger Games, most people were getting somewhere between 5 and 8. Izzy got a 6 (I still have no idea what she even did) and I realised my score would be coming soon after her partner, Cyprian, who got an 8. "Claudia Diamond" The voice boomed "4!"

I almost burst into tears until I realised that was pretty much what I wanted. I needed a low score to keep up the weak "facade" I probably only got that because of the knives, without that I'm sure it would have been a 0.

Halcyon got a 9 (the highest score this year), I could imagine him chuckling in pride at that. As I guessed, Anya and Luke scored 8s, but so did little Raphael. The chubby blond kid in our group managed to get a 7, which surprised me as I thought he probably wouldn't be able to run.

Luckily I didn't get the lowest score of the 24 of us, Katie (the short bubbly one) achieved a 3.

_Poor kid _I thought_, she won't stand a chance. _This was good news however, as that made another nice person who I wouldn't have to kill as someone else would get them first.

Sleep came quickly, as I went through what I should say at the interview the next day. By the time I realised how tired I was, I was asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Sorry it's been like forever since I updated! Life gets in the way and all that. I don't own the Hunger Games (but would like to). Please review, it makes me really happy :) :)**

Since we clearly didn't need to be shown how to behave on camera (we were educated Capitol children after all, and cameras had been following me since birth), we spent the whole of the next day effectively relaxing as the 24 of us. This seemed like quite an odd decision for the Gamemakers to make, but in the back of my mind something was telling me that they wanted us to get pally so when we had to kill each other it would be harder and more emotional.

We did however have a couple of hours to practice interview technique (should we need it) alone with our escorts and partners. I opted for this as I really wanted to get away from my group of newly found "friends", I didn't want to get too attached to them.

"Come in you two, take a seat!" Amber smiled as she lead Halcyon and I into a stark office, clear of all furniture bar a desk and three chairs.

"I can see you all know how to walk and sit correctly, that's a great improvement from past tributes." She chuckled at her 'humour'.

"Now, have either of you planned out your attitude for tonight?"

I shook my head, hoping she'd suggest something so great that it would make up for both the infamy implied by my name and my rock bottom score.

"I have, I know exactly what I shall say" Halcyon said smugly.

"Then why did you come here then?" I snapped at him, my tone surprising myself. I was angry because his confidence made me feel even more stressed about the coming evening, I simply had to make a good impression.

"To be with you, my love"

"That's what you would say, isn't it" Halcyon's fists tightened noticeably. In my rage I had forgotten the massive favour he was doing me, letting me love him could be the difference between life and death for me.

"You two, calm down and grow up" Amber interrupted our bickering strongly, for such a small woman she sure could silence a room. "Now, we will have none of this, _especially _not tonight. Please, sort your problems out whatever they are. Just make sure you are infatuated by each other on camera"

The atmosphere in that office was extremely awkward as Amber talked me through her plan for me that evening. She suggested I act very mysterious, which would increase my potential as a wildcard to bet on. As I practised with her, using language to be as vague as possible about how I thought I would fare in the games, and trying to imply that I had some sort of amazing plan and would emerge victorious, I realised how much I genuinely enjoyed lying to people. I got a sense of power from it, power over the people who would lap up my lies and believe all of them.

As I rounded my little practice speech to a close, Halcyon shuffled his chair up to mine, taking my hand.

"I'm sorry" He whispered in my ear, his breath warm on my hair. I pecked him on the cheek and Amber tapped her watch and coughed loudly.

"So Halcyon, would you care to enlighten us on your plans for this evening?"

"Are you asking me on a date?" He winked at her "because it sounds like you're trying to chat me up." He purred, posing seductively. Then his face cracked up as he started chuckling.

"I take it you have watched Finnick Odair's interview then?" Amber inquired, almost on the verge of laughing too; it was easy to forget that she was barely more than a teenager.

"Yes, and since he got a hell of a lot of sponsors, it seems like a good route to go down."

"Fair enough, you sure can pull it off. Just be careful about being overly flirtatious; don't forget Claudia." She said, hardly aware that I was sitting a few feet from her. "Now Claudia" She acknowledged my existence "would you mind going back to the lounge area while I chat with Halcyon for a minute? There's a surprise I want him to work on with me."

"Fine, see you around" I blew Halcyon a kiss as I swept out of the room.

"There's a good girl. Now, Halcyon..." Her voice trailed off as I went further down the corridor and out of earshot. This 'surprise' worried me. I hated surprises, the uncertainty ate me up inside all afternoon as I sat watching the other tributes fool around.

Halcyon returned with a half smile on his face over an hour later, and all too soon we were called up to don new costumes for the interviews.

Ozzy almost skipped with pride as he shuffled me into my latest costume. As I turned to look in the mirror, I saw fewer sparkles, which was sad, but this time huge black wings were attached to straps around my back. I sighed, annoyed at yet another insanely heavy costume.

The wings were set to curl around me, and from what I saw of the dress underneath as it was being put on, it was short, skimpy and made of a strange feeling material. Of course, Ozzy had then felt the need to add the odd twinkle of a diamond in the wings, but otherwise they were a huge dark barrier around me, protecting me from the outside world.

"Listen carefully my dear. If you mess this up, I'm afraid I shall have to cut off those dainty little feet of yours" Mr. Oswyn said as he handed me a small electronic device, it looked a bit like a tiny TV remote control. "Press and hold this button only at the end of your interview. Again I am no scientist, I have no idea how these things work (speaking of which the stones on your face look won-der-ful), but anyhow, I am sure this will stun the crowd."

I didn't know what to say, I had no idea what the device clutched in my fingers would do, but I trusted my stylist, and I hoped it would be good. In fact, I knew it would be brilliant.

"Thanks, for everything" I smiled as he began styling my hair, this time blow-drying it repeatedly to make it huge and fluffy.

"I'm not done with you yet flower, don't you be saying your goodbyes now."

After what felt like minutes in the stylist's chair, Halcyon (in a shining white tuxedo this time) and I were thrust into a car and were shortly at the venue for the interview. From behind a stage door I looked out onto the crowd. There weren't quite as many there as there were for the opening ceremony, but these people were closer, you could see a lot of the expressions on their faces.

We filed onto the stage to great woops of applause, taking our places in rows of elaborately decorated chairs. Nerve wrackingly I sat, watching the first twelve tributes being interviewed by the bland and totally un-funny host this year, another man who's name I couldn't place, even after it had been uttered. The others seemed to be very calm and collected, this made me even more nervous; I simply had to make a good impression.

"And next we have Claudia Diamond" The pause between my names made me uneasy. Of course he knew who I was, everyone knew. As I walked (well, waddled would probably be a better phrase, those wings sure did obstruct movement) over to the interviewee's seat, I used every ounce of brain power to remember his name.

"Good evening Oliver Farvel, good evening Panem!" I cried out to the audience, my audience.

The host bit his lip and made a weak smile; "It's Oscar actually, but a young lady as pretty as you can call me anything you like" The crowd roared. "So, are you ready for the Games?"

"Yes, I suppose I am..." I replied, deliberately holding back on the end of my sentence.

"Could you elaborate on that for us please Miss Diamond?"

"Well, that would be telling, and I don't want the other tributes to know my...plans"

"Are you going to win the Games then?"

"Well, I'm certainly going to...try my best."

"So, you and Halcyon Sunburst, any gossip you can spread to us on that?"

"Well, you'll have to wait and see won't you." I gave him and the audience a flirty smile. Again the crowd went wild.

"Well, Panem is watching you two like a hawk; you are the hottest celeb couple this year may I add. And what about that score, are you disappointed? If you don't mind me saying, that was a terrible score."

I laughed softly, trying to seem in control but to me it just sounded as if I were hysterical.

"Hmm, I don't think the Gamemakers quite saw the best of me there."

"No, matter, it's hard to be beautiful and tough. Might I say what a wonderful dress you have there, would you like to give us a twirl?" At that point I knew Ozzy had had words with this man.

As I turned I pressed the small button on the remote. The wings popped out with a force that tugged on my back. I looked down and my dress had started giving off a bright warm glow and in some places I saw the glitter of more diamonds.

"How gloriously angelic!" Oscar Farvel exclaimed, though I hardly heard him over the cheers of the crowds. "Well, that was Claudia Diamond, who could turn out to be the dark horse of the Games."

He kissed me briefly on the cheek as was customary and I returned to my seat. My eyes were fixed on Halcyon long before his name was called. He slunk with the grace and arrogance of a tom cat up to the host.

He was asked the same bland questions which I was asked, and he answered them with characteristic charm. The worst part was that he knew the crowds loved him.

"So, tell me about you and Claudia, I'm sure there's a good story behind that." That woke me up like a bucket of cold water.

"Well Oscar, I've known her since I was a toddler" Lie. " and we've been dating since I was 14, 3 years ago" Lie. "We'd always been friends, but, you know how it is, one moment I just realised that I loved her." Not that much truth to that either. "her parents hated me" Lie. "they even arranged to have me killed." Lie. "So we planned to run away together, change our names and live the other side of town." Lie. "but none of that will happen now, the best I can hope for now is that we will die in each other's arms.."

There was a massive "ahhh" amongst the crowd, and hardly a dry eye in the house. I tried to not let myself seem annoyed, I simply blushed deeply and hoped that I seemed the part. He was using me to get sponsors now, because people pitied the 'cool charmer who turns to a soppy romantic", but in fairness I was using him too.

I still couldn't believe Halcyon had lied like that. I couldn't be angry at him because his deceit was actually helping me, though it was breaking my heart to hear him lie for the cameras about us. I resolved that I must just keep my cool and play along. Cameras turned to me and I did the biggest smile I could muster.

It wasn't long before I found myself back in my room with Ozzy carefully prizing my wings off. _This is it _I told myself _that was my last dress up game. Now it's the real thing. _I began getting into my nightwear as soon as my dress was off, but Ozzy stopped me.

"Sorry, I've just heard word that they're going to get you guys onto the train to the arena in half an hour. Very tight schedule, mush mush." He gestured to my pile of training clothes. "Get those on for now, your escort will be with you shortly."

He saw the dejected look on my face.

"Don't worry, I'll be coming with you to the arena Claudia. Not much I can do about your outfit in there mind, and I've seen the colour scheme; it's horrendous..." He mumbled as he patted me on the shoulder and walked away.

I showered and got into my training outfit, ready to go. I felt like I should pack something, but there was nothing to pack. I hadn't a single possession in the whole world now. At least some of the other tributes had a family urging them on, and a home to dream about. I had nothing.

Well, not quite. I hopped off the bed and went towards the door, hoping that Halcyon's room was the one next door. I pushed the heavy wooden door open, only to be met by the gruff expression of a guard.

"It's for your own safety Miss." He said, his voice sounding all too much like the man who had dragged me from a cupboard only a few weeks before.

"But.."

"I'm sorry, I have orders not to let you out." I slammed the door and slumped back onto my bed. _Great, now they're keeping me locked in. _I thought, thinking about my time spent in a prison cell.

I didn't have much time to reminisce, less than five minutes later an exuberant Amber Royal showed up at the door and dragged me down the corridor to fetch Halcyon.

"C'mon now darlings, we have a train to catch. We're late already, so hurry up." She said as she rapped loudly on Halcyon's door.

"Sure sure sure" He yelled from inside. He pulled the door open and only then "remembered" to put his shirt on. Amber shot me a sly smile. _She's jealous_ I thought.

I fell asleep that night to the sound of the train hurtling through Panem, when I woke up we were still on the move. I jumped off my bunk and set about looking for Amber, hoping to find out from her that we were several months' train ride away from the arena. I did not want to be there.

"We'll be there late this evening" She smiled politely when I finally found her, reading from a memo. "But considering it's 11 already and you've only just woken up, I'm sure the journey won't be too long."

That whole day was amazing. I wasn't allowed onto the other coaches to see the other tributes, so it was just me and Halcyon, all day. We didn't mention the Games. We didn't mention the arena we were heading to. We just lay on a sofa together and watched TV and ate junk food. It was amazing.

What wasn't so amazing was looking up to see the sky darkening and feel the train grinding to a halt. We were all shuffled into the matrix of tunnels underneath the arena.

My sleeping quarters were polar opposite from my luxurious room in the training centre. All I had was a hard mattress on a cold stone floor and everything had that slightly chemically smell of new and too clean things. I tried to calm myself to sleep, but all I could think about were the Games now.

I must have slept eventually as all too soon I was being shaken awake by a salt and pepper haired man. Amber was standing behind him, beaming at me as always. She handed me a tray of food, telling me to eat quickly.

I was still groggy from sleep and this was slightly too much to think about so early in the morning. She led me into a room where Mr. Oswyn silently pulled me into my outfit for the Games. It was a grey and white padded jacket, with thick thermal vests underneath, water proof trousers and big clunky boots, with an excessive amount of grip. I couldn't learn much from the clothes about the arena, but I was pleased that at least it didn't seem to be a desert. I wouldn't have gloves or so many layers if it were a desert.

Amber had disappeared off, presumably to find Halcyon. Ozzy took it upon himself to lead me to the room where I would enter the arena from. He hugged me lightly and pecked me on the cheek.

"Good luck Claudia darling. Don't get that pretty face of yours hurt."

"Thanks, thanks for everything." I said, breathlessly, the reality of the situation suddenly flooding over me.

He took my arm and whispered in my ear; "Keep an eye out. Some people are not all that they seem."

I was still turning that over in my mind as an expressionless guard dragged me over to a small circular platform. _This is it_ I thought to myself.

Still looking back at Ozzy I was raised, not quite kicking and screaming but pretty close, to the surface outside.

24 people simultaneously looked around the landscape. Everything I could see was a slightly different shade of grey, from the pale grey sky to the almost black of what appeared to be caves in the mountainside before us. We were in a large, rocky valley, the wind howling down in a fast flowing stream. At the end of the valley, on the horizon, all I could see was white; snow. I was then thankful for my gloves.

My gut instinct was to run, but then I remembered I'd be blown to a fine paste by the mines around my feet. The countdown started, any second and I was ready to run. My plan was to run towards the worryingly sparse cornucopia and then stick with the group I had arranged mere days before, but by then it felt like months ago. I made out Halcyon in the circle, almost directly opposite me. Izzy was a few places to my right and the others weren't much further. We all shot looks at each other, trying to hide our obvious fear with a plan.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N No, I don't own the Hunger Games. Yes, this was fun to write. Yes, there will be more in the next week or so :) Yes, I will frown at you if you don't review :P It makes me happy :) :)**

"Let the 76th and final Hunger Games begin!" An unfamiliar voice boomed, and time slowed. Twenty-three other figures pounded towards the cornucopia. Unlike some of the others, I had speed on my side, and I darted in towards a brilliant cyan pack, it wasn't the biggest, but it looked as if it must have something of use in it.

I heard screaming, the bloodbath had begun. Every fibre of my body wanted me to take the bag and run, but I had to stay with my friends (if I could call them that). I dodged past flailing arms and legs to try and find Halcyon, Isonia or just anyone I knew. I couldn't see them.

In my rush to find my group I'd let my guard down. A strong arm grabbed me from behind and pulled me towards them. I swung around to face my attacker, hands already balled into fists. I swung at his jaw before I could even acknowledge the face.

"Claudia, it's me." He said as he calmly blocked my wild punch.

"Oh.. Leo is it?"

"Luke." He smiled briskly. "The others went this way; I said we'd catch them up." He said as he took my arm, already breaking into a jog.

"Please tell me you have a weapon..." He began, though his voice was drowned out by the blast of the first cannon. Although we were quite far down the rocky valley now, I still risked a quick glance over my shoulder.

I immediately regretted it. A tall figure plunged what look like a sword into a young girl, their first victim already dead on the ground in front of them, their blood staining the shale on the ground. A fourth figure was running away, limping heavily as they tried in vain to climb the steep sides of the valley. I looked away as quickly as I could, not wanting to see the already wounded boy's death.

I was wheezing heavily as we rounded the edge of the valley.

"Please, can we just stop, just for a moment."

"Sure, but be quick." Luke breathed as I slumped against one of the huge boulders that littered the surrounding area.

I wrenched open my sack, hoping for there to be something in there I could use. I then realised I didn't have a weapon, and unless there was one in the bag I would be unarmed and stand no chance against anyone. Luke had an ornate spear, tipped with a lethal metal point, he could kill me at any moment, go and find the others and then say someone else killed me. But he didn't.

To my relief I pulled out a long hunting knife and some smaller throwing knives, I almost laughed with joy, but the blood-drenched scene I had seen minutes before left me bitter. I also found some dried strips of meat and a thin sleeping bag, and most importantly a small water flask.

I began to tell Luke how lucky I was, when he waved his hand to shush me. Ears pricked, we heard the faint sounds of people shouting not far off.

"I think that's them." He said quickly as he jumped to his feet. I crammed my few belongings into the pack again, quickly strapping a couple of the knives to my belt. I followed him as he hurried up to the top of the hill we were sitting at the bottom of, the muscles in my legs already burning from the ascent.

Down in the next valley there was another skirmish, it was closer this time, and I could make out individuals. It was our little gang, fighting off what seemed to be another group that had formed. We raced down the gravelly ridge as quickly as we could, eager to help our friends.

Luke whirled his spear over his head as we came close, I turned towards the familiar faces I knew, not wanting to see his target, but I couldn't miss the thud of a body hitting the ground. As we joined the fray, it became clear that our group had formed a circle, defending the pile of supplies that everyone wanted to have. I quickly counted the number of people in the other group, five still standing, plus whoever Luke had just hit (though I doubted they were still a problem).

"How nice of you to join us" Izzy yelled as she dived after a blond who had just had her sword thrown to the ground. I froze, surveying the scene around me. I didn't know what to do, I wasn't a fighter. I dodged past countless attacks, trying to get through to someone who maybe I could help.

I noticed Halcyon was beside me, his smiling face splattered with someone else's blood. He had been defending me for the past few minutes, and I hadn't realised. I smiled back at him, and then turned to see the blond girl who Izzy had just been chasing pelt towards me, her manicured fingers now gripping a club.

I moved, but too slowly, her attack hit me in the side of the head, knocking me straight down. It couldn't have been very hard, and she didn't have a very good aim, but the world was spinning in front of me as I tried to get up. I collapsed again, my vision going hazy. _Maybe it's best just to play dead_ I thought as I heard the whoosh of arrows flying over me.

When the ringing in my ears had stopped, I dragged myself to my feet. Our group had scattered, some chasing after other tributes, others trying to recover stolen supplies. I could see the pretty brunette of our group, Anya, searching the ground for her arrows, and the young girl, Katie was leaning against a rock, crying softly. Halcyon was looming over a pig-faced girl around my age, laughing menacingly as he kicked at her already ruined leg.

I heard the thud of someone running towards him, but he was too late to notice the huge boy rushing at him, axe in hand. I didn't think, I just acted. I pulled a knife from my belt, and without hesitation I threw it into the bear-like boy's chest. His look of shock as he turned to me and saw me throwing a second knife haunted me in my dreams that night, he looked almost disappointed in me as the second blade embedded itself in his large belly.

The first cannon blast shortly followed the final gasp from the small dark boy who I hadn't even noticed was lying beside me, his torso still impaled with Luke's spear. Soon a second blast was heard after Halcyon brutally decapitated the crying girl in front of him. I didn't see it, and I was relieved I hadn't, but as always, the sounds told me all I needed to know about the scene. I didn't think Halcyon had it in him to kill someone so cruelly, not even giving her the chance to run away. He seemed so kind, so caring. From then on I didn't look at him in quite the same way.

Thinking about the girl Halcyon had just killed was my mind trying to distract myself, begging my body not to turn around and look at the young man who was bleeding to death yards from my feet. The third cannon sounded, and I couldn't stop myself from crying. I had never intended to kill anyone in the games, my naive brain had somehow convinced me that I didn't need to, that I could somehow win with no blood on my hands. If only that were true.

I felt Halcyon's arms around me, his smooth voice telling me it wasn't my fault and that everything was fine. The sound of that third cannon blasted over and over again in my ears, until the boom of a real cannon dragged me out of my hysteria. A fourth blast, one I wasn't expecting.

The stragglers had returned, I looked from face to face, trying to count each of our group in turn. Halcyon was fine, one arm still curled around me, Anya had a cut on her arm but she seemed fine, and little Katie was distressed and bruised (from tripping over a rock it later emerged) but otherwise fine. Isonia soon came into view, my best friend, again she seemed ok, a little bruised and covered in dust but that would only harm her ego, her partner Cyprian followed close behind, limping slightly but still smiling.

In his arms he was carrying a small body, _please say it's just a wound, _I thought to myself. It wasn't. It was Raphael, he was one of the youngest competitors, and despite somehow scoring an 8, it wasn't enough to save him. Anya wailed when she saw him and ran over to Halcyon as he laid the boy down.

"He's her brother" Halcyon whispered in my ear as slowly the whole group came to gather round the small body. He took Anya's arm,

"I'm sorry, but this is the Hunger Games, it's not going to end well for any of us." He said, trying his best attempt at sympathy.

"Get away from me" She yelled, throwing his arm away from her and taking her brother in her arms. His small face seemed perfectly serene, at peace, though everyone was trying to avert their eyes from the mess of his chest area. Someone else clearly had an axe in their possession.

With her brother's body on her shoulder, Anya picked up her bow and quiver and her small pack, and, still crying, began to storm away over into the next valley. Cyprian reached out to stop her, the scuff of his boots on the shale the only sound aside from Anya's sobbing.

"Let her go her own way." Luke said softly as he approached the rest of the group, his voice exerting power over all but Halcyon, who simply smirked at him. It seemed that no one had noticed he wasn't there, but his presence changed the atmosphere. Everyone was too focused on the tension between Halcyon and Luke and Anya's exit to notice the sniffling boy Luke was leading behind him.

Fernando, the chubby boy whose existence everyone had seemed to have forgotten about, collapsed to the ground, one hand pressed tightly over his right eye, blood trickling between his fingers.

"Someone get some water and cloth, quickly!" Luke said, trying to act as calmly as he could.

"There's no point you know, we'll only have to carry him everywhere. He's going to slow us down, and you know it." Halcyon spat, he was cruel, however I found it hard to disagree with him, a wound like that would probably get infected anyway.

"There's every point, we need him Halcyon." Cyprian said as he passed Luke a bandage and a flask of water.

"What for, for eating all of our food? For slowing us down?" Halcyon shouted, his face becoming ever more contorted with anger.

"Look, would you boys just calm it ok? We have to stop fighting amongst ourselves! If you two don't get on, then go your separate ways and stop dragging everyone else into it!" Izzy said as she stood up and began to pack the bags away again.

Just then, a snowflake fell in my eye, I blinked and looked towards the sky, bursting with light grey clouds and ready for a full scale blizzard.

"She's right" I said, not as loud as anyone else had been shouting, "The weather's turning, we need to find firewood and shelter."

"Thank you, a logical idea for once." Halcyon sighed "Let's get moving, I think I saw trees down that way" He gestured to his right and picked up his bag.

Luke only just finished his makeshift bandage for Fernando when the real snows came only minutes later. We trudged down the hill again, following the sound of Halcyon's voice leading us through the blizzard.

I walked ahead with Halcyon, trying to engage in a conversation but the howling wind stopped me. After what felt like all day (but was probably only a couple of hours) the snow finally stopped and we found ourselves in yet another low valley. It was identical to the other terrain we had covered, but this time it was covered in small pine trees. In the sides of the valleys were a handful of caves, many of which looked accessible.

The sky was starting to darken now, and everyone was thinking the same thing; _food, warmth, shelter. _

"None of this is dry" Katie whined as Halcyon instructed us all to gather firewood.

"It'll have to do won't it. It's almost dark, hurry up." Halcyon barked, even though the snow had ceased, the wind was still raging loudly. Despite my winter clothes, I was still feeling the cold, everyone was it seemed.

After gathering a measly amount of firewood, we clambered up to the first of the caves along the hillside. Luke held up the rear because he had taken it upon himself to look after Fernando (who incidentally was indeed slowing us down).

As we were almost at the top, music began playing from no-where. We all jumped slightly, not expecting to hear the new Panem Anthem being played, it seemed night had fallen without us realising. The equally new emblem lit up the sky, and after it were displayed the faces of the eight tributes who had died today. A few of them weren't too familiar, though I realised afterwards that the two girls and a boy at the start must have been the ones I had seen slaughtered next to the cornucopia. Then there were the fatalities from our fight, the ugly girl, the dark boy that Luke killed, Raphael and finally the boy I had killed, his name was Philip Plautus and his picture grinned down on me, rubbing in my guilt. There was also another girl, not someone anyone recognised, but one less contestant nevertheless.

"I hate this, why do they have to make us watch?" I said, breaking the silence as we stood still, heads towards the sky.

"Because, my dear, they like to see you crying." Halcyon said, wiping a tear from my eye as he continued up towards the cave.

"It's really dark in there" Katie complained again as we reached the mouth of the cave, complaining seemed to be the only thing the tiny girl did.

"What did you really expect? Mood lighting?" Fernando said, and this was the first time I'd ever heard him talk. He had a sneering voice that made his sarcasm even more extreme. Everyone seemed to ignore his failed attempt at humour anyway.

"Now, Katriarna, since you are the one who wanted to have a nice sit down, could you be a dear and check out how big this cave is, what with you being short and all." Halcyon said, smiling warmly at Katie. She gulped, clearly terrified of the darkness in the cave.

Laying her pack down, she crept inside.

"It goes along way back.." She called, her voice echoing.

Then she screamed, not a hysterical girly scream, but a scream of pure fear. After a second scream, there was quiet, and the only sound that could be heard was a low growl and the crunch of bone.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Sorry it's been a while and sorry this is a bit of a shorty (people of decreased stature prefer "fun sized") Anyhow, big thanks to _iggyxxmitchell _for being a "Pro Co Wro" and generally helping me along with the story and such. There will be more soon, please read and review it's seriously motovational!**

There was just a couple of seconds of shock, and then everyone jumped into action. Pressing a finger to his lips, Halcyon drew his sword and waved at Cyprian and Luke to do the same.

"Stay here" Izzy mouthed at me and joined the boys in creeping into the dark, weapons held at the ready. I was left to look after Fernando, perhaps they remembered my low score, or realised I was too weak to fight off whatever beast was in the cave.

It was agonising to hear the sounds of steel against flesh, people shouting and a terrifying roaring all coming from the cave. All I could do was wait and worry, images of Izzy's and Halcyon's mutilated bodies haunted me as I paced back and forth. After what felt like hours (but was probably minutes) shivering in the cold on the mountainside, Halcyon ran out triumphantly, covered in a greenish slime.

I opened my mouth to speak to him, but he didn't look like he wanted to talk, he crouched on the ground and busied himself in cleaning the grime from his sword.

Not long after, Izzy, Cyprian and Luke came out, dragging a huge and mutilated carcass behind them. I honestly couldn't tell you what kind of creature it was, but it was ironic that whatever it was had been created by scientists working for our parents and friends' parents. I looked for little Katie but one look at Izzy's drawn face and I stopped. Another member of our group gone, but in my head all I could think was _one less person we have to kill._ I was pulled up short by that- the games had already changed me.

I walked over to Halcyon, not wanting to look at the stinking wreck of fur and slime next to me. I bent down and took his arm; he still hadn't said a word to me.

"What's wrong? What happened?" His face was still a mask, I pecked him on the cheek, hoping that would get a response.

Then I looked at the arm I was holding. A huge fang was embedded in it, the skin around an array of green and black, and even in the fleeting light I could see the flesh was already dying.

"My arm." He snapped, though I had realised it already. "I can't fight, I can't… protect you, I'm useless."

"No, no you're not. You are the best fighter here, and it will heal." I blurted out, hysteria already setting in. The short time I had spent at the training centre looking at medicines told me that it was infected already, he was dying. I loved him, somehow, I needed him, and he was dying.

"It's going to be fine, it's going to be fine!" I said again, more to reassure myself. I was crying now, I didn't know what to do.

"Stop crying you idiot, it helps nothing." He finally looked at me and attempted a smile while wrapping his good arm around me and kissing me, and kissing me again. It was cold at the mouth of the cave, but warm in his arms. He couldn't die, not now, not now that I knew… I knew… I knew I loved him.

"I know you want your time together and all, but this just kinda fell out of the sky.." Izzy said, tapping me on the shoulder, ruining the moment.

I looked up at Halcyon, who was struggling to keep his eyes open. I helped him to lie flat on ground, and I couldn't help but noticing how pale his skin was, with a worrying green tint and how his eyes had closed.

"Don't go to sleep Halcyon, just don't." In my rush to get him comfortable I had forgotten Izzy was standing behind me, a small silver package in her hand, surrounded by a silver parachute. The others had busied themselves in setting up camp, whilst sending occasional glances our way, I wasn't focussed enough to translate those looks to see what was behind them- worry for Halcyon, or their own safety, he was a irreplaceable asset.

"I think it's for him." She said as I tore the packaging off it. "He must have a lot of sponsors, didn't think the people from the districts would have the money..." She babbled on, I wasn't really listening; all I could hear was the pounding in my ears as I fumbled at the stopper of the small glass bottle in my hands.

The liquid inside was the same blue as my hair, which was a strange coincidence. After sending a quick thank you to Amber I used the little moonlight and rubbed the ointment around his wound (having painstakingly pulled the fang out), it hissed slightly and he grimaced and for good measure I put some on his tongue and encouraged him to swallow it. As I did it I scanned his face looking for any immediate improvement, nothing. This gave me a chance to fully study him- I traced his strong jaw line, kissed his forehead and tried not to think of having to do without him.

Minutes past and nothing happened. Over my shoulder I could hear the others, sitting around a small fire at the mouth of the cave, trying to cook the little food we had.

Halcyon groaned next to me and began to regain some sort of consciousness. I breathed a sigh of relief and began to think of it as the best moment of my life, but when I remembered seeing him cut the head off a defenceless girl only a few hours before, and it changed my mind.

My doubtful expression was cut off mid-thought as his eyes flashed open and he kissed me, stood up and went towards the others, without even a word to me in thanks.

"What you doing over there girl?" Izzy yelled at me, gesturing me to join the others around the fire.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." I replied, quickly busying myself, not wanting the others to see my embarrassment at his confusing brush off. I headed towards them treading gingerly up the slope, conscious that every step I took knocked a little stream of shingle down to the valley bellow. I sat crossed-legged between Izzy and Halcyon. An argument over food was already beginning to ensue.

"Guys, come on, just share it out equally." Izzy pleaded.

"We need to ration it, or we all starve!" Luke countered.

"You'll all be dead in a couple of days anyway, why not just eat the lot." Halcyon muttered darkly. That caused an awkward silence to spread through our little camp. No one ever likes being reminded of the truth, but Halcyon was tactless enough to use "you" rather than "we". It made me question his credibility further.

After we ate and a guard rotation had been arranged I rolled out my sleeping bag and arranged it next to Hal who was already asleep. What was he doing? Apart from the one kiss when he had recovered he had acted very cold to me. This bothered me, and when I tried to reason that it was because I didn't want to lose sponsors, all I could do was think back to how I'd felt when I thought he was dying, maybe he mattered more then I'd thought. As I feel asleep I realised that actually nothing else mattered more.

The next morning we awoke in the cave and realised then how damp caves tended to get. Everyone seemed to have survived the night, and no monsters seemed to have appeared from the depths of the cave either. The thought of monsters sent me briefly reeling back into my nightmare which was filled with the dying, judgemental face of Phillip and also with a strange two headed Hal, one side cried his love for me whilst the other laughed a high, cruel laugh as he pushed me towards the corpse of tiny Katie who's mouth was open in a vengeful scream as she ran towards me with my knife… I did a mental shake to clear those thoughts; I couldn't afford to be distracted by dreams today.

"So what now?" I asked Halcyon as he rubbed his eyes and rolled out of his sleeping bag.

"Huh?" He was not a morning person.

"What do we do now? You're the man with the plan and all that." I tried to recreate our old flirting routine but he just replied with a curt:

"Yes, of course." He said, straightening up. I noticed he slept with his sword by his hand, paranoia much? "We keep moving."

"No, we stay here, defend the supplies, what little we have left." Luke said from the entrance of the cave, the sunlight streaming in and dancing through his fair hair.

"Don't be ridiculous, the others aren't just going to come to us. We need to hunt them out."

"We can't go very far, not with Fernando like he is." Luke replied as he walked towards us, stepping lightly over a sleeping Cyprian.

"I told you we should have just left him to die." Halcyon hissed, his manner turning now, no longer the familiar Halcyon I knew and cared for.

"I am right here guys. Good morning to you too." Fernando whined from further back in the cave. Everyone ignored him.

"I hate to say it, but I agree with Halcyon" Said Izzy as she gently prodded Cyprian awake and began meticulously rolling her sleeping bag.

"See, she's got the right idea. Unless we stop hiding in this cave, we are never going to even find the others." Halcyon replied, his cool charm returning as he smiled at my friend. I didn't back him up, only too aware of how the little buzzing of jealousy over that little smile was making me feel even worse that morning.

It was strange how fate, or rather the Game makers, had a way of twisting his words. Fernando had emerged from his bed and was now at the mouth of the cave, kicking at the ashes of last night's fire.

"Shut up you guys!" He hissed at us, pointing at the hillside above our heads. Halcyon frowned at him, taken aback that he was being ordered around by this weakling. We heard the sound of someone running, and Fernando hugged the side of the mouth of the cave to get a better view with his good eye.

Then there was a huge rumble. At first I thought it was thunder, but despite the snow on the ground the weather seemed quite nice that day. The very rocks in the cave shook as half the mountainside above us cascaded down, blocking off the entrance to the cave. With it too the place where Fernando was stood, not even a splatter of blood under the rocks to show that the boy was once there at all.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N Sorry it has been a while, I know I promised and all that, but I have everything planned out and almost all written :) Thanks again to IggyxxMitchell (or whatever silly username her twelve-year-old self decided on) for helping me and trying to improve this. PLEASE Read and REVIEW! :D**

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><p>The roar of the landslide rang in my ears as three cannon fires were heard. The opening of our cave was quickly filled with the falling debris. The runners we had heard above us must have not fared too well as the shouting in the cave around me indicated that all (except Fernando of course) were safe down here.<p>

As the dust settled I realised that there was just the smallest chink of light coming from the mouth of the cave, but it wouldn't be easy to get at. We were stuck. Someone bumped into me from behind.

"Oof, shit, sorry. Who is that?" Luke said as I sensed him take a step back from me.

"Claudia. Is everyone ok?" I asked, I received a chorus of yeses in response.

"Except chubby, but I guess that's good."

"Halcyon, is this really the time?" Cyprian muttered, his low voice coming from somewhere to my left.

"Try and get the things, we're going to need them." Isonia said, her calm voice drowning out the boys' squabbling.

"Most of the food was by the entrance.. We ain't going to be able to get it out." Luke said as everyone fumbled to find their sleeping bags and weapons.

"Well who had the bright idea to put it there, hm?"

"Hal..." I reached out for him, cautioning him that now was not the best time for an argument.

Once all of the salvageable belongings had been rounded up we gathered around the bottom of the chink of light to assess the situation.

"So, any chance one of you can levitate up there?" came Luke's voice after a silence. I laughed as Hal replied with a scornful:

"Being funny isn't going to help us _Lucius_."

"Jeez, I was just trying to lighten the mood"

"Well don't. If you're not careful we're going to realise you're not good for anything and you might be going the same way as Fernando, got it?" Hal snapped. The enclosed area had obviously got to him and he had lashed out, he didn't mean what he said… we were all on edge. That calmed me down. I just hoped Luke was telling himself the same thing- what we didn't need now was a testosterone fuelled battle that would end up, undoubtedly in a death, and it wasn't hard to guess who would be victorious. There was a silence as Luke weighed up the options in his head, but luckily he reached the same conclusion and he sat down instead of making a remark that might have set off a fight we didn't have the space for.

Suddenly there was a small clatter of rocks. We turned to the chink of light to see Izzy's silhouette climbing up the debris at the cave's mouth.

"Iz, what are you doing?" Came Cyprians voice, I noticed how he had kept quiet during the exchange between Luke and Halcyon, _probably one to watch_ I thought; all he needed was for them to fight and kill each other and that would clear the alpha male path.

"While you guys are bickering I thought I'd do something useful. I think I can get up there..."

"For God's sake be careful, you don't want to do a Fernando." I called back to her.

"Too soon perhaps?" She replied breathlessly as she started to push at one of the larger rocks at the top. Finally she cleared enough room for her slim figure and she pulled herself through, grunting slightly with the effort.

"Ok, throw my stuff up. I'm out!" She cried from the other side.

"Cyprian, go up first, she'll need someone to watch her back." Luke said, his hands scraping around on the floor, looking for his spear in the slightly larger pool of light the opening had created.

"No, I'll go up." Halcyon said. He felt the force of 3 pairs of eyes glaring at him in the gloom. "Ok, ok. I am the leader, and she'd be better off with me watching her back but sure..."

"Can't stand another minute trapped in hear with you anyway..." Cyprian called as he hefted his huge frame up over the rocks, carrying both his and Izzy's kit. We were hit by falling stones as he broadened the hole and squeezed through the gap.

"Right, ladies first." Luke said as Cyprian wiggled out into the daylight.

"I'll go up first, so you can grab my hand." Halcyon said, the tiny ray of light in the cave reflecting on his smile. He took my bag and climbed nimbly up.

"And then there were two.." I smiled.

"Want a leg up?" Luke asked, positioning himself by the pile of rocks.

"Pardon me?" I laughed sheepishly.

"Do you want me to lift you up to the first couple of rocks?"

"Oh, sure. I walked over to Luke, managing to bang smack into the shaft of his spear he had leaning against him. We laughed hysterically, mainly out of lack of sleep; it wasn't funny at all really.

"What is keeping you down there?" Halcyon yelled. "If you have touched my girlfriend, I'm gonna..." He was cut off, it sounded like Izzy had shoved him or something.

"Just coming, it would be nice if you waited and all..." I called back, hoping another fight hadn't broken out. Luke gently lifted me up onto the first boulder, and I scrambled up from there. Seeing the light of day outside was a relief, we hadn't been trapped for long, but already I was starting to miss the sun.

Izzy and Cyprian were sitting a little way away, staring into the pretend sky. Halcyon helped me to my feet and told me to tread carefully then wandered back over to our bags.

"Erm, a little hand down here?" Luke said from the little hole. He passed me his spear, now his most treasured possession, and suddenly there was a sound of rocks sliding and he gave a surprised cry. I gasped as I realised the boulders underneath his feet had given way and he was hanging on with one hand, with quite a large drop below him.

"Lost...my footing..." He said, his voice breaking as he struggled to keep his grip.

"Erm, grab my hand.." I felt like an action movie cliché. I took his dust covered palm which was sweaty and dragged him as best I could out of the cave. I almost dropped him but I refused to let him go, even though it would have been so easy to just let him slip, claim it was an accident… So shocked at my own thoughts I almost did let him go.

"Thanks" He breathed as he got to his knees. I brushed some of the dirt off his top, out of guilt rather than kindness.

Then I felt Halcyon's arms from behind me, leading me towards the little safe zone where Izzy, Cyprian and our few remaining belongings were.

"So, get up you two. We can't just stay here." He barked, beginning to lose his cool with impatience again.

"Why?" Said Izzy, clearly rather exasperated by Halcyon's moods.

"Because there's no food here, and that might happen again." He gestured to where our camp had been.

"So where do we go? I don't see any refrigerators out here.." I said, dropping to the ground by Halcyon's feet.

"Well, there's trees over there. And there'll be little bunny rabbits and things to eat." He said, gesturing to the distant tree line behind us.

"Trees means danger, guys." Luke said cautiously as he checked over his beloved spear.

"When was the last time a tree came alive and attacked you, hm? Listen, _we _are the biggest danger out here. The rest of them" Hal waved his arms around "are all the low-scorers and the no-hopers."

There were murmurs of agreement. Halcyon smiled, knowing he had won. "So, unless you want to stay here with Luke and be afraid of trees and starve to death, let's go!"

Everyone picked up what little we had remaining and followed Halcyon as he strode off. _At least the weather's good _I thought to myself, the only consolation in this desolate situation.

The thin forest was silent as we entered it. Aside from the huge framework of trees, there were no signs of life. This wasn't like how it was in Katniss's Games, where there was some animal jumping out at every corner, asking to be eaten. There was nothing.

"I'm not feeling so good with the forest.." Izzy said, about an hour or so into our trek though the silent trees.

"Did you just hear that?" Luke said suddenly, not exactly in response to Izzy.

"What?" Halcyon whirled around, drawing his sword, ready to be the hero.

"I think.." Luke ran a few paces ahead and looked quizzically at some rocks. "..It's a spring!" He exclaimed, and we all ran over to see the little spring of water bubbling up from the rocks.

"Ok, now I like the scary forest." Said Izzy, unscrewing her tiny water bottle, she had been complaining of thirst all morning.

"Now, let's just pray for a donut tree.." I muttered, running over to wash my face. My fingers brushed against the diamonds studding my cheeks. I had completely forgotten about them. In my mind I hoped that girls all across Panem were all begging their parents to get similar body art.

"Well, I guess it could be about midday, the sun is pretty high. Lunch anyone?" Halcyon said with a smile as he shook the water off his hands.

"Er, I thought we had no food." I said, hating to kill the moment of joy on the other's faces at the thought of food.

"Well, I thought I saw something a little while back.. I'll have to be quiet, so you four wait here. I'll be back." Halcyon said with a sly smile as he raced off in the way we had come.

"Wai.." I called, but he was already too far away. Waiting for him was agonising. To give myself something to do I copied the actions of the others and filled and re-filled my water flask, washed my socks (then immediately regretted it for lack of places to dry them), and started weaving together some pine-needles.

"Who likes squirrel?" Halcyon called from behind us and I jumped.

"Where have you been exactly?" Luke asked him, his tone maybe a little too accusatory.

"Just something I saw as we were walking, a little den of sorts. So, I have squirrel and rabbit." He waved pink things in our faces.

"I was expecting more kinda fluffy.." Izzy said, turning her nose up at the meat.

Halcyon laughed. "I skinned and gutted them of course."

"Why is there blood on your jacket?" Luke asked, his eyes sharp as if looking for faults.

"Messy little buggers they are. Someone get a fire together." Halcyon ignored Luke's sceptical glance and put the little corpses down on top of his pack.

"We can't just light a fire here, everyone will see the smoke!" Izzy blurted out, almost panicked.

"Let them, let them come find us." Halcyon waved his sword dramatically. "We'll treat them to lunch." He cackled. Cyprian's sour face reflected our group's attitude to Hal's outlandish humour.

"Right, ok, if you're so sure." Luke said as he began gathering nearby sticks, looking for ones that weren't damp.

Soon we had a little fire going and a spit to roast the assorted critters on. We ate quietly- all too aware of how much attention the smoke was earning us and really none of us, excluding Hal, wanted to be sprung upon in this moment of meaty-peace. I'd never had fresh meat like this before, and to be honest it was disgusting.

"Ugh, what would it take for our sponsors to get some decent food for us..." I complained, picking tiny rabbit bones out of my teeth.

Izzy raised her eyebrows comically and looked pointedly to me and then to Halcyon. We all dissolved into giggling maniacs.

"I don't know what you are finding funny..." Halcyon said, trying to keep a straight face.

I rolled my eyes. "Ignore them, they like... sticking their noses in" I glared at Izzy.

A cannon sounded, yet another tribute dead. It felt wrong to keep laughing now, we stopped and all took immediate interest in our food. It reminded us that we certainly weren't alone in the arena.

"How many is that now.." Izzy said quietly. There was silence as we counted in our heads and jumped to the worrying conclusion that now over half of the original 24 were dead.

"11 left. Five of us here, six out there." Halcyon said coldly. Another moment passed before:

"I wonder who that was, do any of you know anyone else out there?" Luke said, trying in vain to break the painful silence.

"Well, I think Anya's still out there somewhere.." I said, remembering how she wept as she left our group, carrying her dead brother away.

"Probably. My cousin Elektra was here too.." Luke said. I wanted to ask him why he hadn't asked her to join our group, but the expression on his face said: just don't go there.

"I saw some guy in my class was in here too, never talked to him though…" Cyprian said, the first time I'd heard him speak for hours.

"Right. Enough chatter, we should get moving." Halcyon said as he washed his hands in the spring and tossed away the rabbit bones.

"Why, we have water here.." I complained. I just wanted to sit her with him and my newfound friends and just enjoy the time we had.

"And everyone else is going to want it. We can't just sit right next to it, we need to lie in wait or something."

"You're right, staying here will only mean confrontation." Luke said, agreeing with Halcyon for once.

We kicked out our all too smoky fire and re-filled our water bottles. Soon we were ready to go.

"Which way, oh wise one." Izzy said playfully to Halcyon.

"Oh don't encourage him.." I laughed at her.

"Look over there." He pointed at a spot above the trees half a mile or so away.

"Er, smoke?" I said, not sure where he was going with it.

"Well, there's no smoke without a fire, and there's no fire without someone stupid enough to light it.." Halcyon said with a flourish as he steered our group in the direction of some poor soul's camp.

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><p><strong>Oi you, yes you. REVIEW! (I love ya 3)<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N More apologies for its tardiness, sorry. Thanks again to my little helper, iggyxxmitchell. Please read and review, it makes me happy.**

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><p>I saw the pale blue tent first and gestured silently at the others, trying to get them to be quiet. In front of the tent was a huge smoky fire, which was what had originally alerted us to its location.<p>

I looked towards Halcyon, who was mentally calculating an attack plan.

"This feels like a trap." I mouthed at him, unsure whether he'd understand. He shook his head dismissively and drew his sword. We pressed on until we were right up by the tent. I could actually hear the tiny twigs snapping beneath our feet.

Suddenly there was a crash of body hitting body behind me. I whirled around, trying to spot the attacker. A girl with a shock of short ginger hair was on Cyprian's back, clawing at his face. As Luke gave a cry of surprise Izzy began to punch the attacker repeatedly, probably thankful that the girl was seemingly unarmed.

"6 o clock!" Halcyon shouted over the sounds of the scuffle. The noise had disturbed the inhabitant of the tent, a boy with dark curly hair, who was now making a run for it. He wasn't as fast as Luke's spear, which caught him in the back of the leg, knocking him to the ground.

I had frozen the second the redhead girl had attacked, rooted to the spot and not knowing what to do. Now Luke, after flashing a glance after the bombarded Cyprian, was jogging over to finish off the boy he had just hit, and Cyprian had wrestled his attacker to the ground.

Halcyon strode coolly over to the redhead.

"Leave her." He gestured to Cyprian who had her pinned to the floor. After a pause he released her slowly. She looked around wildly, unsure of what was going on. Halcyon punched her square in the face and she dropped like a stone to the ground. We stared at him.

"Wha.." I said, still not too sure what was happening.

"It's nothing, just history, Cyprian, it's your kill.." He said, waving his hand dismissively. Cyprian grunted and calmly broke her neck, as if it were as easy as breathing.

"Where's Luke?" I asked, turning away from the sightless eyes of the dead girl. Izzy pointed to the other side of the little camp. As we moved further into the clearing we heard the boom of the cannon for the mysterious redhead.

"Luke! Get back here!" Halcyon barked at him. A few minutes later after we had begun looking in the tents, Luke returned, weighed down by the boy he was carrying over his shoulder.

"You were supposed to have killed him!" Halcyon snarled.

"No.." Luke began, laying the injured boy down and glanced towards the flame-headed corpse on the floor, his expression enigmatic.

"You too chicken now?" Halcyon huffed and walked off, maybe to scout the area but more likely in a strop because Luke had disobeyed him.

"No it's just... Never mind." Luke tailed off and Hal sighed in frustration. I walked towards Luke.

"What is it?" I said, looking into his eyes.

"He says he knew my sister... She went missing at the start of the war."

"I knew her, yes. If you fix my leg up, I'll tell you some more." The curly haired boy said from the ground. I went over to him to look at his wound. It was bleeding heavily, I was unsure if a bandage could really help this.

"Look, I need to know if she's alive. Can you get a bit of cloth or something?" Luke looked towards me hopefully. If this really meant so much to him, I guessed it would be the right thing to help him.

"There's some here." Said Izzy, coming out from the little blue tent. "There's food too." She smiled.

I helped Luke bandage the boy's leg, not that it would do him much good.

"Please, just tell me. Where is she?"

"Just let me rest, and then I'll tell you. This doesn't half hurt dude!"

"Ok, ok.."

"So what's your name then?" Izzy said, squatting down beside him. _Trying to make friends _I frowned, _not the best idea.._

"Alexandros." He said, waving an arm out in greeting.

"Hi, I'm Isonia. My friends call me Izzy; well they would if I had any friends." She looked over to me and laughed, trying to make a joke like old times.

"What the hell is going on here?" Hal stomped in, back from his sulk.

"Well, this is...Alex. He's injured and..." Izzy began, hoping not to be yelled at by Halcyon.

"I can see that, darling." _He just called her darling, why did he call her that? _My mind went wild. I mentally shushed myself- I was just over thinking it. Halcyon came closer and poked at Alex's bloodied bandage.

"Now that will get infected.. Should probably cut it off.." He began to draw is sword, smiling slyly.

"Hal, no. I need to ask him stuff first."

"Ask away, I don't think you've got much time.."

"He won't talk.."

"Well, I'll make him."

"Halcyon, seriously calm it."

"I am perfectly calm, it's you who wants to play doctors and nurses all the time."

"I just need to ask him something!" Luke said again, this time stressing each syllable.

"Ugh, would you boys just calm down!"

"Ask away, or I'll cut his bloody head off!" Halcyon growled, I reached out for his arm in an attempt to calm him down, but he brushed me away. Luke glared daggers at Halcyon, but decided it was better to just leave it.

"Look, just tell me about Julia, or I'll let Halcyon..." Luke began resentfully, but Alexandros cut him off

"...OK, how about everyone calms down and stops talking about decapitation?" The injured boy yelled.

"Oh, would you just..." Izzy growled and did something totally out of character. She threw Cyprian's axe (lying next to her), straight at Alex. It just missed his head thankfully, but the thought was still there. I still couldn't comprehend myself as a killer, and the Philip that appeared in my dreams sure wouldn't let me forget about it, but lashing out unprovoked like that seemed not something Isonia Leandra would do.

Alex looked around bewilderedly, Izzy looked shocked and apologised profusely.

"Well, if you can't get a job done right..." Halcyon muttered, picking up the axe lying next to him, which I noticed later was ironically burnished with a mockingjay emblem, and burying it in the inured boy's chest.

_If looks could kill _I thought as Luke death-glared at Halcyon.

"Should have known." He spat, his voice more reminiscent of Hal in a bad mood, "you never can control yourself..."

"Just because I recognise I am the stronger man here..." Halcyon replied menacingly as Alex took his dying splutter of a breath.

"Says who? Your score? Your girlfriend? 'Cause I just think..."Luke shook his head. He was smart enough to realise this wasn't a fight he wanted to be in.

Cyprian and Izzy carried Alex's body away from the clearing, leaving me alone with the testosterone fuelled machismos. Luke had sat down and turned away from Hal. I wanted something, anything to break the bitter silence between them. Finally, Luke muttered;

"I'm going to... go get some firewood..." And he wondered off, leaving me sitting in the doorway of the tent next to Hal. I took his hand, needing something to support me. Needing him to be there. The last day had been so emotional, so much anger, so much death. He could see it was getting to me.

"It'll be fine" he said, his eyes meeting mine before he went forward to kiss me. It was short-lived, I broke off. I needed to talk to him.

"What has Luke ever done to you?"

"What do you mean?" He replied absently.

"Why do you hate him?"

"I don't hate him, he just hates me. He's trying to control us all, surely you can see?"

"I don't know, it just seems like you're overreacting a bit, Hal..." I said, shivering as I noticed how cold it was becoming. Night was falling again in the arena.

"Look, don't worry about him. And if he ever does anything to hurt you..." He broke off menacingly, putting his arm around me protectively. Now felt about the right time, I needed to tell him how I felt about him. How I really felt about him. I took a deep breath and turned to him.

"Halcyon, these last few days… you've always been there for me. I think..." My voice faltering, I'd never said this before so plainly. "I think I love you, like seriously; I love you." It came out in a rush, and I searched his face, looking for his reaction.

His eyes lit up almost triumphantly and he smiled his usual infectious sly grin. "I know, I know..."

The others returned to find us making out in the tent, I would find it a little awkward in normal terms, but I doubted I had long to live so frankly I didn't give a damn. Izzy coughed loudly. I disentangled myself from Halcyon's arms and turned to her.

"What took you so long?" I said, looking around, the sun had all but set now and the night air was dark and cold.

"We met a little...trouble" She said slowly as we all heard the distinct sound of cannon fire. I looked over at Luke who was cleaning blood from his spear, he smiled weakly. These were not killers, none of them were, and they were showing all the signs of guilt.

"Was it Anya?" I asked, trying to make conversation. She was the only one of the other remaining tributes that I could name.

"No, it was a boy..." Luke muttered, deep in thought. The new Panem anthem began playing and we all turned towards the sky. The smiling faces of today's dead appeared before us, two boys and two girls we didn't recognise, along with Katriarna, Alexandros, Fernando and Luke's cousin Elektra, who it turned out was the ginger who had attacked Cyprian. Eight dead in just one day. _I hope the districts are enjoying this bloodshed_ I thought sarcastically to myself, knowing deep down that they probably would be.

"That leaves three out there, and five of us here..." Izzy said, always the maths genius.

"Lovely. Now, has anyone got any food?" Halcyon said, leaping to his feet and walking towards the still burning fire.

"There's the last of the rabbits... then that's it..." Izzy said, fumbling in her bag. For the second night we ate our meagre food in silence, ever watchful of whatever or whoever would come out of the dark trees.

After we'd eaten we again decided on a guard rota. I took first shift, gripping my knives in my hand with white knuckles and knowing that I wouldn't stand much of a chance against anything the game makers would throw at me. After what felt like a couple of hours, I woke a confused Izzy up to take over. After reminding her where we were and what she had to do, I returned to the tent to sleep (the boys had let the girls use the tent, they were being all macho and sleeping outside by the fire).

I awoke to hear shouting. Izzy was lying asleep next to me, her heavy breathing indicating there was no chance of her waking up anytime soon. I sat in the tent and listened in silence.

"Look, all I'm saying is it's just a teeny bit suspicious, you know." A boy, Luke shouted.

"And so what if I did, we're all killers now Lucius." Halcyon replied, his tone having the same amount of aggression to it.

I tensed. This argument didn't sound like the others- these two had been at each other's throats the whole time we'd been in the arena, but this time I could hear the frustration in Hal's voice and the rage in Luke's and I didn't like to think where this was going to end.

"It just doesn't make you the most trustworthy guy to be around, ok?"

"What, and you are Mr. Trustworthy?" Halcyon laughed. "I've seen you, and to be honest I'm surprised you haven't murdered us all in our sleep yet!"

"Would you two keep it down?" A third voice, Cyprian, hissed. "If you wake the girls up, you know what they're like..."

The other two seemed to have ignored him and kept yelling at each other. I was surprised this fight seemed only verbal.

"Ha! You can talk, you bloody psycho!"

"Oh, I'm crazy now am I? Just because you don't have the balls to protect who you love..."

"I doubt, Mr. Sunburst, that you've ever experienced love..." Luke replied in a quieter, more malicious tone.

"What are you trying to say, huh?" Hal's voice had lowered to match Luke's, but that didn't mask the danger in his accusation.

"Never mind. Anyway, I am no chicken. You know that."

"Sure sure, you're always such a mummy's boy I'd find it hard to agree with that."

"If you're so amazing and tough, prove it." Cyprian piped up. "Just man up and leave each other alone, please." I couldn't agree more with him, it was horrible to hear Halcyon acting like this, it didn't shock me though, it was just a side of him best left unseen.

"Oh for shit's sake.." Halcyon said, and it sounded like a scuffle ensued. I froze, not knowing whether to get out and see or hold my ground. The distinctive sound of metal entering flesh was heard. A body fell to the ground and the boom of a cannon ran through the clearing.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N Disclaimer: No, I don't own the Hunger Games, so don't eat me. I do own a variety of two dimensional OCs. They are mine.**

**Sorry I left this on a cliffhanger, and no, I haven't given up on this, it's almost finished! I've had exams and stuff but I'm now cutting into revision time to get this done :D**

**Much love. Enjoy. Please review, you would not believe how motivating reviews are.**

**Oh, and thanks to IggyxxMitchell for help and stuff :)**

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><p>I burst out of the tent without thinking. I needed to know who had been killed, if it were Halcyon, or even Luke, I wouldn't know what to do.<p>

Halcyon and Luke stood a short distance apart, teeth bared and weapons raised; poised like cats about to pounce. On the ground between them, by the ashes of last night's fire, was a body. With his fine dark skin splattered with blood, and expression frozen in anger, Cyprian lay, his neck and chest stabbed mercilessly.

I looked to the two others, who were still paused, trying to glare each other down. Luke's spear was clean and shined dully in the morning sun. Halcyon's sword dripped scarlet with Cyprian's blood.

I tried to say something, but the words stuck in the back of my throat. Halcyon had just killed one of our friends. Totally unprovoked. Halcyon lunged for Luke, his expression as deadly as his intent. Luke batted Halcyon's sword away with his spear, leaving it lying in the muddied ground by Cyprian's body.

"Just go." Luke said coldly, his face showed his disgust and he gestured with his spear. "Just take your sword, and go. Next time I won't give you a chance."

"I don't need telling twice." Halcyon grunted, his sword metal-grey eyes flashing in the weak sunlight.

"Halcyon!" I called as he turned to pick up his sword and make a run for it.

He looked at me, his brow hard. He said nothing and turned away and began walking in the woods.

"Halcyon! It's ok, I..." I didn't know what to say next. I didn't need to know what to say next, as I could see he was ignoring me. I flashed an apologetic look at Luke and jogged after him, quickly catching him up.

"I heard what happened, I... I... I understand." He ignored me again and continued walking his face set looking straight ahead.

"Just leave him!" Luke called from behind me. "He's not worth it." That was when I realised that Halcyon Sunburst didn't even have the care to turn and look at me, let alone talk. I kept following him nonetheless, for a good ten minutes I trudged behind him, conscious of how he took no notice of me.

"Hal, please come back. It's ok…I'll…I'll talk to Luke. I'm sure it was a mis-"

But I couldn't bring myself to lie like that. Halcyon had killed Cyprain. He had murdered him. A murderer… _But we have to do it, to survive_. A voice tried, pitifully to reason out of the conclusion I was drawing. _At least give him a chance to explain, he loves you. _That drew me up short so I actually stopped walking. Did he love me? He'd been acting so odd, hardly paying attention to me… I didn't know. I didn't understand, and that scared me- I had seen Hal as my constant during this madness, but now I…

"What is your problem?" I called to him finally, tired of my internal termoil, he kept moving, still no response. "You said you loved me, now this?"

He stopped walking and I let out a little sigh as he turned to me, but his face didn't relax- his eyes were still blazing with anger.

"Just be quiet, you snivelling wretch!" The only sound in the quiet forest was the chatter of birds so I caught every venom-filled word. "Your type are always so silly, so wound up in yourselves that you would believe anything." He continued, and I stared at him dumbly.

"But, but... Halcyon, you said..."

"And what's more, you believed me! Ha! You are pathetic." And there it was- pathetic. He didn't love me. My mind, which had been filled with doubt and confusion, cleared- which left me unable to hide from what he was saying.

"What now? Did I burst your bubble, _princess?" _He sneered which contorted his facial expression until the last recognisable part of my Hal had disappeared.

"Come on? You can't be serious?" His cold laughter filled the silence. "You honestly had no idea how annoying you are? Claudia, _honey, _you're useless, shallow and naïve. If only you had your grandfather's brains and maybe you'd be redeemable," As each word he spat out of his mouth hit me I felt myself shattering.

I was crying now, hot tears of embarrassment fell from my eyes as I stared at the ground, unable to look at his hate-filled face. I'd never been insulted this much before.

I became suddenly aware of our position. My mind was racing- he had come closer during the last few moments and I couldn't hear anybody around. Had he led me out there to kill me? We were too far for someone to reach us in time if he had already decided to add me to his list. I drew my largest knife with a shaking hand. This action only made him laugh again.

"Don't worry, _dear_. I'm not going to kill you. Won't need to, a squirrel or something would get you first." He continued his barrage of abuse, stepping lightly away from me. I was rooted to the spot, unable to speak, unable to do anything apart from try and hold the broken parts of me together.

"Or maybe you should top yourself like your coward of a mother did."

I snapped. How dare he speak of my Mama like that? I screamed, I shouted, I clawed at him, blind with fury. My grasping hands missed him, as he dodged calmly away from me.

"What the hell have you done to her?" Luke shouted, running towards us, I hadn't heard him approaching. Halcyon ignored his words, he just looked down at me, his face wearing an expression of merciless victory.

"I'll just leave you alone with pretty boy here. Be seeing you." Halcyon called, flashing a cold smile as he sauntered off. He knew he had won. Maybe not the Games, not just yet, but he had won his own little sadistic game. In my rage I had dropped the last intact pieces of myself. He had broken me.

"Claudia... Come on, we need to get back to the camp. We'll get lost out here..." Luke's voice was there. His arms were around me. Still in a state of shock, I allowed him to lead me back to our camp.

The scene was just as I'd left it, though with a major difference. Cyprian's body had gone, replaced now by Izzy, who was standing over the spot with tears trickling from her eyes and landing in the remaining pool of blood at her feet. She turned her head to look at us.

"He's gone then?" She asked. Luke nodded. "Good." Her voice carried a growl I hadn't ever heard before.

"I don't think we should stay here though. Too risky, he knows where we are." Luke said calmly, his quiet voice had an air of authority.

I still said nothing. I didn't know what to think, let alone what to say. I felt as if I couldn't trust any of them. Or anything.

"Yes. Up the mountains again?"Izzy replied after a pause. Luke shrugged, knowing that wherever we went; no one could be safe in the hunger games.

Izzy turned to me, her smile faltering but brave, despite the loss of her friend.

"Claudia, it's ok." She hugged me tight, meaning it to be reassuring but I all felt was smothered. However I recognised her grief too and hugged her back and I wiped the tears from my eyes.

"You don't want to talk about it?" She said after pulling away, gauging her words from my look. Behind me, Luke had begun packing the tent up.

I blinked my eyes and awoke from my pain.

"Right. Everything is fine. We're all going to die here, but everything is FINE" I yelled, shouting the last word. I needed to get the all the emotions out of my system. I wasn't going to be useless. He was wrong.

Soon we were ready to go, and begun four hours of walking. Unfortunately the open spaces and the quietness surrounding us left me with little to distract myself from thoughts of Him. I tried pushing them away and instead concentrated on putting my feet in front of each other, we hadn't had time for breakfast and I was struggling to keep up. But I wasn't going to say anything. I could see the other two flashing concerned looks at me and sharing them with each other when they thought I wasn't looking. They thought I was weak too. Everybody did.

As we climbed slowly back up the mountainous corner of the arena, a cannon fired. We all looked around wildly, wondering who had been killed, and more importantly; where.

"Hal..." Luke muttered. "He'll go after everyone else, and hunt us down last..."

"That seems his kinda thing. Dramatic." I said bitterly, still trying to equate this new Halcyon to the one I knew.

We continued trudging up the rocky mountainside

"Reckon that was Anya he killed there?" Izzy said a few minutes later. We all started pondering who else was left.

"Maybe. There can't be that many out there." I replied, my face dropping like a stone as I realised how many of us had died already.

Luke smiled, "Well, at least they haven't set too many Muttations on us yet. Chin up."

I hated to kill his joy, but I glared at him. "Don't tempt them." I said, glancing towards the sky, indicating the gamemakers; the gods of this arena.

"Fair point. And I would say we should stop for lunch, but..." Izzy tapped her tiny backpack, the one that now contained no food.

We stopped anyway, the mountainside we were perched on looking worryingly like the shale death trap from the day before. I didn't want to say anything, but we'd gone a few hours without anything really happening. It all felt way too quiet.

"What's that?" Luke nudged me, pointing to a small black speck in the sky. It was rapidly becoming bigger.

"It's just a bird or something." I replied, blinking to see it through the drizzle. The shape had just divided into two distinct shapes.

"Just two birds... Coming towards us..." Izzy said, her voice rising to a higher pitch as she scrambled to find one of her weapons.

Luke jumped to his feet, spear in hand. The creatures were close enough to see in detail now, they were both monstrous, and beautiful. They looked as though a small child had tried drawing one of the peacocks from Grandpa's garden, then stretched it.

Luke's spear hit the first bird where its wing met its body, leaving it to roll to the ground, screeching in pain. The second went straight for Izzy as she swung blindly with a short sword. She tried to duck out of its way as I ran towards it, knives raised. But her evasions were in vain.

The bird's huge talons took hold of her as she tried to wiggle free. There was nothing I could do, I couldn't throw one of my knives, I couldn't risk hitting her. She screamed as the bird beat its wings, ready to carry her off. Luke rushed over with his spear, having just finished off birdie number one.

The huge bird had just managed to get carry Izzy a few feet into the air when she must have realised it was only holding onto her by her vibrant red jacket. She tried again to wiggle free, and this time she dropped to the ground, leaving the bird gripping her coat.

I rushed over to her as Luke skewered the bird. She had a gash on her forehead from hitting the ground, but nothing worse.

"Thanks for helping there, don't know where I'd be without you." She said sarcastically, she had noticed the way I had stood there and done nothing.

"No problem" I said, totally deadpan, but inside I was painfully aware of how I had almost let her die.

"Do you want this?" Luke walked over to us, waving some tatters of red fabric at us.

"Erm, no thanks, shabby chic is so last year. Reckon we can eat them though?" Izzy replied, gesturing at the huge feathery carcasses.

"Well if they're anything like the gamemaker's previous offering, I'll pass." I smiled trying to relax the situation and thinking back to the slimy cave monster.

"Well, birds, chicken, same thing. Worth a try." Luke said, taking one of the knives from my belt and butchering one of the carcasses. Izzy and I both turned away in disgust.

That evening we finally reached a little plateau with a small stream by it. It felt like a good place to make camp, as you could see anyone coming from any direction. Despite it being exposed, we risked a fire as we had no other way to cook the meat, and we were hungry. To make things worse, the weather had turned too. Out of pity I gave Izzy my blue jacket, since she was freezing without hers, and Luke said she looked a bit feint.

After coming back from some secluded place I'd found to pee, I noticed Luke wasn't there. I asked Izzy, who was trying and failing to cook the meat, where he had gone.

"He's just gone down there" She indicated to the way down the hill, following the line of the stream. I smiled internally, relieved that that wasn't the same route I'd taken for a toilet break. That would have been embarrassing.

"He said you should go down there too." She continued, I looked at her quizzically. "He said he wanted to talk to you." She paused dramatically. "Alone." She winked.

"What..." I was beyond not in the mood to trust a guy again. If she was trying to imply something, then she clearly hadn't taken into account my state of mind.

"I think he wants to confess something to you... That's my bet anyway. I mean, the way he looks at you..." She babbled on mindlessly. I ignored her, my mind racing. _What should I say to him? He had seen how cut up I had been. I didn't need this, I didn't know how to deal with this. How do I get him to leave me alone? _I wanted to tell her this, to tell her I could never trust him, but no words came out. If he loved me, that would complicate things. That would complicate things a lot. One more person I wouldn't have the heart to kill. I didn't need that.

"What are you waiting for? Just go!" She laughed, shoving me playfully in the direction he went.

"Ok, alright." I muttered, and trudged down the slope, wondering what Luke wanted to tell me in private.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N It's penultimate chapter time, guys! Thanks again to iggyxxmitchell for her help, and to the one or two people who have bothered to review/fav/follow this :D Next chapter will be very soon btw :D**

**Oh, and I don't own the Hunger Games, evidently! **

**Please read, review, and feel good about yourself for reviewing :)**

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><p>As I walked down the path into the dark I realised how stupid this was. Whatever Luke had to say, I didn't particularly want to hear it. Worse still, it was dark and I was beginning to realise that I had no idea where I was going.<p>

The sound of a rushing waterfall filled my ears and I clung to the side of the hill, gripping the flat rock trying to stay away from the deadly water.

"Claudia" A voice called. Luke's voice.

"Luke..." I called back, looking around blindly, trying to use the moonlight to find him.

A strong arm latched onto my shoulder and pulled me back, _through _the icy waterfall, into what felt like a small rocky alcove. I reached out my hand infront of me, recoiling at the touch of Luke's dripping face.

He pulled me closer to him, _oh crap no_ I thought as I tried to slip free from his grasp.

"I need to talk to you" He whispered in my ear as I realised I couldn't escape from his strong clutches.

"What?" I yelled in his face, unsure of what he had just said over the noise of the waterfall around us.

"This is the only place where they can't hear us..."

"Who?" I replied loudly.

"Shh, quietly. The gamemakers, the rest of Panem. Them."

"Oh..." After making sure I had my footing on the slippery floor he released me and we stood, facing each other and shivering not quite sure how to continue. After a long moment and some apparent serious deliberation on Luke's part he spoke:

"Anyway. Long story short; the Games are fixed."

I didn't think I had heard him right, "They're what?"

"Fixed, rigged, whatever you want to call it." He gave me a moment to let this sink in. Rigged? In whos favour?... Or against whom? The answer was already coming to me, I shouldn't have been suprised, after all, it was the rebels who were organising this.

"Halcyon was promised a guaranteed win, and his parents' freedom from jail." He continued.

"For what?" I asked, although I already know his answer.

"He had to play you..." He began slowly "to humiliate you, break your heart, and then kill you. For the people's _enjoyment_."

He spat the last word. But I couldn't help thinking back to my careless, capitol- childhood wishing for the very same excitements in the yearly Games. A good betrayal gave the audience someone to victimise, the fool, the naïve and stupid fool who had eagerly believed the twisted lies that she was told by the brilliant, scheming… but this wasn't helping. I focussed instead on Luke's face, there was something missing from this information, something he wasn't saying.

"So I guess the whole name changing thing didn't work. Amber will be disappointed." I muttered, wondering how we'd ever been able to fool ourselves into thinking a new name would give me some sort of immunity. Luke seemed to be following my thought process.

"Far from it- a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, or as sour for that matter." I was shaking- the combined feelings of how futile everything was and the sensation of my drenched clothes sticking to my back was draining me of the little energy I still possessed. For what felt like the millionth time that day, I was cold, tired and didn't know who to trust.

Then it dawned on me. This was just plain old Lucius Verus. He wasn't known for his omniscience; he could have just made this up. One of many liars in the arena.

"But, how do you know?" I asked. Luke had been staring at the wall of water separating us from reality.

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is he doesn't kill you. Don't let him get what he wants..." He said, seemingly still transfixed by the free falling water and the crashing sound as it hit the rocks below.

"No. Luke," I grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face me; I wasn't going to be lied to again. "Tell me, how do you know this?"

His eyes met mine for an instant then averted to the floor. I could see this was a secret he hadn't planned on revealing.

"My parents. They were spies for the rebels during the rebellion. They told me about the games being fixed." He paused and fidgeted.

"What happened?" I pushed gently, curious to hear more of this conspiracy.

"There was a fire... the last coup of Snow's supporters...they wanted to punish those who had helped the rebels… they found my parents." His voice trailed off into inaudibility.

_He's an orphan too _I realised with a gasp. He cleared his throat, trying to distract from the soft glint of tears I could barely make out in his eyes.

"So I volunteered as tribute, because I had nothing to lose." I was so confused at that point that I had to spend a moment to sort the information- _so his family sided with the rebels but were killed by the last of Grandpa's cronies, so Luke joined in the fight to the death because he had nothing to lose._ In this moment of clarity, I held deep pity for Lucius Verus.

"Oh Luke, why didn't you tell me this earlier?" He said nothing. "About the Games being fixed I mean."

"Oh...I had to wait until the right time. And to find somewhere...private..."

"I see..." I replied, unsure how to deal with the situation. It was laughable now that I had thought he had dragged me her to profess feelings for me…

"We can't let _them_ know that we know." He insisted, finally turning fully back to me.

"So what do they think we _are_ doing in here?" In the moonlight I saw him raise his eyebrows.

"Oh...No. That's a little far-fetched, right? After what… I mean…And I wouldn't..." I paused, realising I was babbling meaninglessly.

"No matter. Just go back, tell Izzy... tell Izzy that I said I fancied you. That's what she thinks anyway..." He added smiling.

"Right. And Halcyon?" I asked, unsure of what I wanted him to answer.

Luke clutched at his spear.

"He's my problem. I'm not going to let that coward win."

"Is this why you hate him so much? Because of this conspiracy?"

"No..."

I tentatively touched his shoulder, wanting him to keep talking.

"It was him" he continued "he locked the doors. He started the fire." He spat and stormed back through the waterfall.

So Halcyon traded sides as he saw fit- he had been a true-blooded capitol boy, willing to aid a final effort to restore the 'old ways' but now he was the rebel's puppet?

And Lucius Verus. As simple as the next tribute, I had thought. Little had I known he was this...complicated.

After I carefully edged my way out of our hiding place, Luke was long gone, in search of Halcyon. I decided to follow the rise of the hill back up to our camp, led by the light of the fire.

As I neared the camp, I caught sight of a tall silhouette, walking towards Izzy who had her hood up tightly and was huddled by the fire._ Luke got back quick _I thought to myself as I rounded the top of the hill.

I focussed my eyes on my tired feet, willing them to go on. I was tired, and I knew I wasn't going to win the Hunger Games, but I sure as hell wasn't going to give up before I reached my sleeping bag.

A terrified scream caused me to look up again at the camp I was approaching. I broke into a run as I saw Halcyon, whom I had presumed to be Luke, thrust his sword deep into Izzy's chest. He looked up at me in surprise, as if unsure why I should be here.

_The jackets, I gave her my jacket, _I realised, _he thinks that's me_.

"NOOOO!" I screeched as he composed himself and stabbed her again, laughing malevolently. My voice caught in my throat.

"Two for the price of one" He smiled, drawing his bloodied sword out. Izzy fell to floor, her arms jerking as she choked up blood. I almost froze again, but the sight of the crimson stain spreading over my best friend's shirt managed to unlock the adrenaline that had previously failed to allow any reactions over the past few days.

I ran past the psychopath, and dived to the ground by Izzy. I took her hand, and she gave me a weak, faltering smile and continued to shake. Halcyon turned slowly, still grinning his menacing grin. He took on a more threatening stance, and drew his breath to speak, as if he were going to do an evil monologue or something.

The twang of a bow from behind him cut him short. He grunted and stumbled to his knees, an arrow embedded in the muscle of his left arm.

"That was for Raphael!" An angry brunette growled at him from behind. Anya. The girl no one had seen since she stumbled away from our group on day one, mourning her little brother. She took a knife in her right hand and ran at Halcyon, trying to kill him while he was down. He was too quick for her, he whirled, rising to his feet, sword in hand. He parried the knife as easy as breathing, knocking it away.

I turned away, not wanting to see him kill her. I looked into Izzy's bloodshot eyes. I could see she was fading now. Rather hysterically I tried to tell her she'd be alright, that it wasn't so bad, just like the time when I'd winded myself, falling out of the tree at her parents house, the breathe had been knocked out of me and struggling to breathe I'd thought that that was it.

"But you told me to get up and stop being so silly." I told her, no longer caring about the events unfolding behind me.

"You said…" I couldn't finish. This wasn't our childhood. We weren't falling out of trees. Izzy was… Izzy wouldn't… "NO!" I shouted. "Get up Izzy! Just get up! And, and s-s-stop being so…"

"Silly?" She finished. Her voice was little more than a whisper. "Just...don't let him win" She wheezed, and forced out another smile. I tried returning a watery one but was cut off by the sound of a painful cutting sound and a scream. I span around to see that half of Anya's hand lay on the ground and that she was screaming, trying to quell the flow of bloom from her remaining digits.

My hand fell to my belt as I raised myself from the gound, scrambling for my knife. Now was the time to throw straight. This wasn't just anger now, this was vengence. Vengence for Izzy, for Cyprian, for Luke's parents and all the other people Halcyon had killed. I drew back my knife, wishing for his death as I threw.

I missed his heart.

I don't know why I was suprised, my brief knife-throwing stint in training was total fluke anyway. I did however hit his shoulder, causing him to drop to his knees once again, preventing from landing a killing blow on Anya.

Swearing, he scrambled to his feet and made a hasty retreat.

"Saving his sorry ass as usual..." Anya muttered from my left, wrapping the remainder of her good hand in her jacket, biting her lip from the pain.

"Izzy, he's gone...it's ok" I breathed heavily, crouching down beside my friend and taking her hand.

Her breathless lips made no reply.

"Izzy!" I shouted, shaking her limp wrist, not wishing to accept the truth.

"It's no use, she's been gone for a while..." Anya sighed, she too had seen too much death in the last few days.

I sat with Anya at the far end of our camp as they took Izzy's body away. I had no idea where Luke had got to, or where Halcyon was for that matter. After keeping a silent vigil by the dying fire half the night waiting for Luke to arrive, we eventually gave up and went into the tent for some sleep.

The nightmares kept me awake that night. I had seen so many of my friends die in the last week that words didn't really cover it. In some periods of wakefulness, I heard Anya, who was crouching at the entrance to the tent, mumbling to herself, rocking backwards and forwards on her heels.

"What's wrong?" I mumbled by default, I hardly knew the girl.

"What?" She paused. "Nothing, just...thinking about stuff."

"Ok..." I drawled, tired but fearful of falling asleep again.

"Claudia." She said, turning to face me, her bright eyes dulled by emotion.

"Yes?"

"You're going to win, right?" She said, forcing a smile.

"I'll try" I weakly returned her smile.

"You do that." She said, ducking under the entrance of the tent and getting to her feet outside. I stuck my head out of the tent and saw her start walking in the direction of the path.

"Where are you going?" I called to her. She turned, her expression unreadable in the darkness.

"Just going to...get some air. I won't be long."

"Ok, be safe then." I yawned started reversing back into the tent.

"Don't worry. Goodbye and thank you, Claudia." She said, her voice trailing off into the cool night's breeze. In retrospect, it was clear what she was going to do, but at the time it didn't occur to me. I drifted off to sleep again, but the sound of the cannon woke me a few minutes later. I spent the rest of the night wide awake, hoping for Luke to return.

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><p><strong>You! Yes, you! Please review, please *puppy dog eyes* Oh, and I've almost finished the last chapter :)<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

Luke found me the next morning, looking out from the ledge we had made camp on. The cold wind blowing in his fair hair gave him an almost angelic quality, but besides that he looked terrible.

"Long night?" I asked him, trying to care but my voice was cold and dead. Part of me was annoyed that he had left me all night, when I had needed him most. But I was mostly glad to see that he had managed to get back safe.

"You could say that." He glanced to the tent behind me. "Where's Izzy got to? I could do with some breakfast..."

I said nothing, I couldn't think of a way to say it. Instead I looked him straight in the eye. I was doubtless that my tear-reddened face would tell him all he needed to know.

He paled and swallowed, calculating his next words.

"W..Who..." He stammered.

"Halcyon. He found us." I said, returning my gaze to the serene forest below us.

He swore and kicked his heels into the stony ground.

"I thought that cannon yesterday evening was for Anya...I didn't find her last night, you know." Luke said, his moment of anger passing as he slumped down next to me.

"She's dead too. They're all dead." My voice sounded empty, like these were just fact, statistics. I guess that's what these games did to you- emptied you. I certainly didn't feel like the bubbly, naïve girl who had entered the arena. Then the realisation just hit me. These people weren't just numbers, I had shared every moment of the last week with them, right from the opening ceremony. And now they were all gone. Well, _almost _all gone.

"But what happened? How did you... How did _you_ escape?" He asked quietly, not quite wanting to meet my eyes. I couldn't help but notice the stress on the word 'you'.

I told him everything that had happened last night. Every painful detail, right up to what Anya did this morning. Just down the path on the cliff, where we were sitting. I felt myself crying again, the hot tears working their way down my face. He put his arm around me, and although I initially stiffened at his touch, his warmth was comforting and I relaxed. It showed that there was still someone else here in this world of loneliness and death. I leaned in closer to Luke, the loneliness driving us together. I was tired. Tired of being hungry, scared. And tired of trying to distance myself from Luke- I needed him in this arena, more then I'd ever needed anybody else. He was shaking. I was shaking. I was unsure whether it was out of fear or hunger at this point.

Luke squeezed me once more then stood up, abruptly, clearing his throat.

"So, we need to get moving. Can't just sit here all day now can we?" He offered a smile and I looked at him balefully, shrugging my shoulders.

"C'mon. What did you say Izzy told you, 'we can't let him win' was it?" He continued, his sudden enthusiasm too bright to bear.

But his reminder of Izzy's dying words provided a much needed mental shake. I couldn't let Halcyon win. I was fully understanding Izzy's meaning, even if she hadn't known the effect of her words. He had killed so many people, not just the people in this arena, not just my best friend, he'd also killed Luke's parents. However that wasn't the only reason he couldn't win- I mean, I had killed someone too, so had Luke. I couldn't let him win because of what that would mean. Him winning would be the rebels winning. And I couldn't let them do that again, not after the devastating effect of their last victory. Yes things had needed to change, but not how they had done it. I stood up. He knew where we were, and we couldn't let him have that advantage.

Since I didn't verbally agree with him, Luke just continued, "Now, if I've got my numbers right, then there are four people left in the arena. Halcyon, you, me and one more. Now, I'd put money on Hal hunting down this other guy first, right?"

"Yes, and save us for last..." I muttered darkly.

"Exactly. So, I think we should find some place new to hide, and stick there..."

"Until the next cannon, the next death..." I muttered again, I still couldn't really match his enthusiasm, not when I was feeling this miserable.

"Well yes. Right, so let's get this lot packed up."

The prospect of going on the move again almost made me sit back down. I was exhausted physically and emotionally and all I really wanted to do was curl up into a ball and close my eyes until this was all over. But I knew I couldn't do that. I had to go with Luke; he was the only person I could trust in this arena and he had stuck with me even though I was about as much use as one-eyed Fernando. _Why? _My newly acquired voice of doubt jumped in. _Why is he still bothering?_

I turned to face him. "Look, why do you care so much Luke?" He looked at me, brow furrowed. "Because I am done with people who look like they're helping me, when really they're traitorous bastards, ok? So, why should I trust you, why shouldn't I just go off on my own?"

I hadn't meant for my outburst to sound threatening but Luke looked shocked.

"Claudia, you know why..." But I cut across him, needing to be sure.

"No, not about Halcyon. This is about me. Why haven't you just killed me and gone to take on Halcyon yourself, hm? 'Cause it feels an awful lot like you're just trying to win my trust here..." He looked stunned. And his sharp reply reflected how my accusation had offended him.

"Because, in case you've forgotten, you saved my life two days ago. In the caves. And I'm the kinda guy who takes life debts seriously I know Halcyon screwed you over Claudia but you've got to get it into that head of yours that not everyone is out to get you, well at least I'm not. So can you please just trust me? Because this is going to be god-damn difficult enough without you having absolutely no faith in me." I blinked madly, not knowing what to reply and stung by his truthful remarks. He sighed, any of the previous frustration had leaked from his face. "So, are you going to get off your ass and help me with this tent or not?"

I nodded and conceded a victory to him here, I couldn't really argue with the fact I had saved his life. We deconstructed our little camp in painful silence, but I could tell that we both regretted our little outbursts then.

Soon we were on the move again, trudging back down into the stony forest. Luke had tried striking up conversation a number of times, but in vain. I didn't really want to talk to him. I didn't want to talk to anyone. It felt like almost midday when we came across something unusual. A small collection of bags, the odd item of clothing and a sleeping bag. All gathered around the ashes of an old fire.

"Can you see anyone?" Luke hissed at me, looking around warily.

"No. I don't think it's him anyway." I hoped I was right. The camp seemed abandoned, the occupant seemingly long since gone. Or dead.

"If you say so..."

Luke relaxed and lowered his spear as I started poking around in the bags. My hand met a wrapper and I cried out, "Food!" Luke ran to me and we ripped the bag open, little packets fell out and we screamed a little in our excitement. In total we scavenged some crackers and dried meat, which made my empty stomach do a little dance- they didn't call this the Hunger Games for nothing, and it felt like we hadn't eaten properly in days. I sent a quick thanks the unknown tribute and we sat down to devour the food.

As we ate our lunch happily, almost blissfully forgetful of our situation, there was a sound neither of us wanted to hear. BOOM. Cannon-fire. Luke dropped his cracker, his arm reaching for his spear. In my mind I hoped that cannon was for Halcyon, though it seemed unlikely. He was the strongest tribute left, according to the gamemakers. He did however have a nasty arrow wound that Anya had given him, though I had the sneaking suspicion that his sponsors would have got him something for that; it was almost a definite considering he had _all _of the sponsors and they wouldn't want his pretty face to be scarred for his victory tour.

We sat in tense silence for many minutes, watching, waiting. There was no sign of Halcyon.

"It's not like he'd find us that quickly, is it?" I asked Luke, in a voice just above a whisper. My fear was already starting to set in.

"No, he's not super-human or anything... I hope." He replied, then in a quieter voice, "but he has got _them_ on his side..." The thought that the organisers and infact the whole of Panem was on his side, screaming for our blood was not a comforting one. What chance did we really have?

Luke pushed the remaining supplies from the ghost-camp into his bag and I began pacing around the flat ground. There was the sound of woodland birds, flying up from the trees. I turned my head as Luke did, following the sound.

I opened my mouth in shock as I heard the clear tones resonating through the quiet woodland,

"Claaaudia! Lucius! Come out, come out where ever you are!"

His voice sent a chill down my spine. The things he had done, the things he had wanted to do... It wasn't worth thinking about.

I turned to Luke, who was shouldering his pack, preparing to go.

"This way, come on!" He hissed, indicating the opposite direction from where Halcyon's shouts had come from. The path looked temptingly clear but I shook my head.

"No..." I said, grabbing his arm. "We're not running. Not this time." The unfamiliar words tumbled out of my mouth. Bravery was not one of my normal characteristics.

"What?" Luke looked into my eyes, as if I were mad.

"There's no point in running, Luke. There's only us three left and we can fight him off. We have to. Anyway, it's two against one..." I said, trying to sound brave, trying to sound strong, but my brittle tone belayed the fear in my heart.

He turned away for one long pause, then looked at me.

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"Oh I'm painfully aware of it." He smiled a little at that, and then sighed, slightly exaperatedly.

"Of all the times you could have chosen to be stubborn and you pick now?" I laughed quietly.

"My sense of timing has always been spot on; you can thank my triangle lessons for that." He raised his eyebrow and sighed again.

"Ok, we stay. But, Claudia?"

"Yes" I met his eyes.

"My sense of timing has never been great, but it's sort of a now or never thing so…" He stopped, and then said in a rush; "I like you. I really like you. So don't you go getting killed or anything like that, ok?" He said quietly, a shy smile appearing on his face.

Izzy had been right. All those times he had looked out for me, guarded my back, stood up for me in arguments. I wanted to laugh and cry- Lucius. Oh Lucius. Why? Why would you start liking the crazy, messed-up excuse for a girl? And just when I thought I could never trust anyone ever again, I felt like I could, maybe trust this ridiculous boy. If only we'd met before all of this. Back when I was the silly granddaughter of the dictator and he was the brilliant son of the spies. It seems even in that world we were doomed. No. I couldn't think like that, there wasn't the time for worrying over some boy. Things were getting kind of life-or-death-y.

He looked at me, his smile faltering. I still hadn't said anything to him. But what could I say? I didn't know how I felt. I elected to return his smile, and kiss him briefly on the lips in reply.

I quickly turned away, blushing deeply. Why had I done that? What a stupid, impulsive thing to do.

A harsh peel of laughter rang through what felt like the whole arena. Halycon.

He strode into the clearing, sword raised. He looked just he did last night, still covered in the same sweat, the same dirt and some more dried blood. Dried blood that seemingly wasn't his. He hadn't made an effort to clean himself up. His silvery eyes blazed manically. And his smile was wide and malicious. He knew he had won already, he knew that all he had to do was to kill us two, then he would be crowned winner.

I was not prepared to let him do that.

He looked between the two of us and giggled. I shot a look at Luke who looked as bemused as I did.

"I hope you scream like the last one." He spoke gleefully as his gaze returned to me. I froze, not knowing what to do, or make of this. "That makes it better, do you see?" He giggled again but stopped when he noticed we weren't moving. His face darkened.

"It makes it better when they scream. When they cry. They start by telling me to stop." His emotions flipped again and he was laughing hysterically. This wasn't the same Halcyon I'd seen last night. Finally the games had got to him.

"And…and…" He coughed to pull himself together. "And once they realise I'm not going to stop they cry like babies. Like the sad, stupid fucking babies they are." He was angry again and I stepped back. His head snapped to me, tilted sideways. "Oh no you don't. I have to finish you." He smiled. "Oh I hope you scream like the last one." He muttered menacingly as he took a step towards me.

Suddenly Luke rushed at him with his spear, Halcyon looked surprised at his haste,

"I had a whole speech prepared and everything..." He chuckled to himself as he parried Luke's blow. He was fighting well with his sword, and had taken the precaution of also using a small axe, which I quickly recognised with a gasp as having belonged to Izzy.

I wanted to rush in and join the fray, but I knew it would be in vain. My skills (if any) lay in my knives, and I couldn't throw them now, not with Luke locked so close in combat with him. So again, I watched, rooted to the spot as the two boys fought for their lives. Luke was even with Halcyon, but the latter was fighting with a new desperation that meant he whirled his sword with a terrible speed.

It seemed only seconds later when there was a cry and Luke dropped his spear. There was a deep gash on his right forearm, which immediately started bleeding profusely. He cried out, and I made a move to run towards the pair.

"Don't bother, _honey_" Halcyon spat. "I'll get to you in good time, now be a dear and wait your turn" He cackled "You're going to want to watch this, I'll show you what I did with the last one" He threw down his small axe and held his sword above Luke's chest as he started singing, a tuneless, terrible song- "Straight down the middle and then a little higher, deeper and deeper, locked in with the _fire."_ He spat the last word at Luke who was struggling to stay on his feet.

Just as the sword was about to plough into his neck, Luke dropped to the ground and rolled to one side. For a second I thought that the blow had landed and he was already dead, but then he moved, turning over on his back until he could get his left hand round his spear.

Halcyon could not react quick enough to stop the weapon going straight into his abdomen. Luke got to his feet and pulled the spear out with a sickening squelch. Halcyon dropped to his knees, his sword thudding to the ground beside him. With Halcyon incapacitated, I finally had the courage to move my shaking legs and run over to Luke, who was on his knees, trying to press the fabric of his shirt into the wound on his arm.

Halcyon was coughing up blood now as he attempted to crawl away, fearful we might try to finish him off. There was no point in a killing blow here really; I doubted he had more than a couple of minutes left. I turned to Luke as realisation dawned on him at the same time it hit me, we were the final two. And this had to end somehow. He looked as if he wanted to run, as if he didn't trust me. Halcyon was still squirming around on the ground, his dark blood soaking the dirt, he wasn't a threat anymore. I was the threat.

I imagined myself being crowned victor of the games, being paraded around the streets. But would the people who started the rebellion really want to glorify the last descendant of their former dictator? Of course not. I couldn't win; I was never going to be allowed to win. This whole thing was done as an example- to show the power they had. I had to die. Any victory would end with a _tragic accident_. Perhaps the new government wanted me to win the games, simply so they could publicly execute me like my Grandpa. Thinking about it, he seemed like the lesser of two evils, at least he was oppressive and everyone knew; everything was crystal clear with him.

There was only one thing to do; I'd already made up my mind. Lucius Verus, a son of rebel spies was a much more suitable winner. He may not be admired, but at least he wouldn't be assassinated. He loved me, and I, I had kissed him. Which was all he had needed, all I could give at the moment, and all we'd had time for. That would make the perfect tragic love story, in your face Katniss and Peeta!

Luke was watching me like a hawk, there was no way I could do it with him around, I would just have to wait for the perfect opportunity.

As this rushed through my mind, opportunity came. Halcyon's futile crawling as he bled to death did let him achieve something- getting his slimy hands on the small axe with the mockingjay branded onto its blade.

Luke realised too late as Halcyon tensed his arm for a throw. I saw this over Luke's shoulder and pushed him behind me, shielding him.

The weapon hit blade first in my lower neck, and the impact almost knocked me over. The original burning sensation of the metal was dulled when my blood started pouring out. Luke was shouting uselessly, but the smoothness of his arms as he lowered me to the ground was some comfort. I looked into his eyes, I wanted to tell him it was ok, "Luke" I mouthed, but no sound came out.

He kissed my head, told me it would be ok, his words dying in my ears. I heard Halcyon's cackle as he choked on his own blood. As Luke kissed me lightly on my lips, Halcyon gave a last, drawn out breath beside me. BOOM, the cannon fired, the sound reverberating in my head. It was fine. It was over. I smiled a little at Luke, who, with the sun behind his head looked like an angel or whatever they were called. He saw my smile but that just brought tears from his eyes onto my face. Brave Luke, the last of the capitol fighters. My brave, brave Luke. I was quite glad I was lying down now, I was feeling awfully numb. The light started to blur away, and then the sound of Luke's sobs faded, and then everything was gone. BOOM.

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><p><strong>Fin. <strong>

**First fanfic I've got around to finishing *pats self on back***

**Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed.**

**Special thanks to my "Pro co wro" IggyxxMitchell for making Halcyon extra crazies.**

**Review? Plox.**


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